Among the Secrets
by TheAnimeFicWriter
Summary: Jaune is starting his senior year of high school and is determined to make it his best year ever. However, something strange happens to him which completely turns his world upside down. Will he be able to cope with it?
1. Chapter 1

Among the Secrets

Chapter 1

In the Shadows

 **Note:** Well, it's finally here. My first real Arkos story. As usually, the characters may not be how they are in the show, but that's just my style. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the start of this and be sure to let me know how I did.

Another school year came around and Jaune was ready for the best senior year in history. He constantly psyched himself up about how senior year was the best for everyone. This mentality alone made him anxious to get to school and reunite with his friends. The morning of the first day was busy. All of the students were walking to school with smiles on their faces. Jaune literally ran to school because he was so excited. When he got to campus, he was able to meet up with his best friends.

"Ren! Nora! Hey guys!"

They turned around and saw Jaune running towards them.

"Hey Jaune, how was your summer? Was it fun?"

"You bet it was. I stayed home all day. Haha. What about you guys? Did you do anything cool?"

"Yeah we did. Ren took me to his beach house for a week. That was awesome. I still can't get over how rich your family is. You don't even seem that rich."

"Thanks Nora. That makes me feel a whole lot better about myself."

"Haha, I'm sorry. You know you love me," she said as she hugged his arm.

"Yeah, whatever you say."

"Oh my God, look. It's her."

The three of them turned around at the sound of the commotion happening around them. When they turned around, they were immediately introduced to what it was that was taking everyone by surprise. It was the most popular, most beautiful girl on campus: Pyrrha Nikos. She was walking through the courtyard in her magnificent grandeur while everyone else could only stare at her loveliness.

"Wow… That Pyrrha girl never ceases to impress me."

"Yeah, I know. It's almost as if she's some kind of model." Ren turned his head to look at Jaune, but he was completely in awe of this girl. He was staring so intensively that it was almost impossible to snap him out of it.

"Hey Jaune, stop looking like a creeper." At that moment, Nora smacked him in his back which brought him back to reality, but also nearly knocked the wind out of him.

"Ah jeez. Nora! What did I say about smacking people?"

"Hey, I can't help it if you're looking like some weirdo."

Jaune regained himself, but immediately went back to looking at Pyrrha. By this point, the girl made into the building and headed off to class. That's when Jaune sighed out loud.

"Do you guys think a girl like that would ever go out with a guy like me?"

"I mean, maybe."

"Maybe? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think what Ren is trying to say is that if you weren't such a loser, you might have a chance."

"You know what Nora?!"

"Uh oh, I pissed him off. Bye Ren, I'll catch you at lunch. You won't be able to catch me, slowpoke!"

Jaune took a few steps toward her, but she managed to escape in such a quick fashion. Jaune simply decided to give up and walk to the lockers. Ren was right behind him, enjoying the entire scene.

For the longest time, Jaune has had a crush on Pyrrha, but because of who he was and the kind of girl Pyrrha was, he was too afraid to try anything. He simply adored her from afar. That alone wasn't all that bad, but the thing was that Jaune didn't know a single thing about that girl. All he knew was that she was the smartest student and the greatest athlete. Those things really made it difficult for him to approach her. However, he was determined to make some changes to his life with the start of his senior year. Time was short so he wanted to muster the strength to find out if she was interested in spending some time with her.

Near the end of the day got difficult for Jaune. He wasn't much of an academic kind of guy so his attention span started to waiver. Eventually, his eyes wandered out towards the window and saw something leaving the school. This caught his attention so he sharpened his vision and saw that it was Pyrrha.

"What is she doing?"

"What was that Mr. Arc?"

"Nothing, sir," he shouted as he stood up from his chair, completely erect. Meanwhile, everyone in class was laughing to themselves. Ren couldn't help but shake his head at Jaune's cluelessness.

"Ugh." Jaune sat back down and covered his head with his arms. He already made a fool of himself on the first day so he decided to shut up and not do anything else for the rest of the day.

When the day was over, Jaune headed back down to his locker and got ready to go home. Before he could leave, Nora jumped onto his back and ruffed up his hair.

"Hey Jaune, let's go grab a snack before we head home."

"Sorry, but my parents just texted me that I need to pick some stuff on the way home. Maybe tomorrow."

"Alright, we'll be ready for that time."

Jaune smiled and walked off. When he got to the store, the sun was already setting so he knew that he had to hurry up. He grabbed everything his parents asked him to buy and headed home. On the way there, he came across an alleyway that had a lot of sound coming out of it. It kind of made him wonder why there was sound coming from there since there wasn't anything down there. However, it wasn't until he heard some kids' voices calling out for help which forced him to check out what was happening.

"Hey, what's going on here?!" At that moment, he saw three kids on the ground being cornered by one person with a knife. The person with the knife stopped their attack and slowly turned to face Jaune. Meanwhile, the kids managed to escape.

"What are you doing here?" As the person finished their turn, Jaune knew who it was, but there was no time to react. The person charged at him and kneed him in the stomach.

"Guh!"

After that, they grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and hurled him into the nearby dumpster. Unfortunately, they weren't done. The person stood right over him and continued to kick Jaune in the gut until blood started to spew out of his mouth. Once that started to happen, the person turned around and started to walk off.

"I better not hear about you telling anyone about this."

Jaune was in so much pain, but he managed to open his eyes for that comment. However, he couldn't think much about it since the pain in his body was starting to dominate his mind. It took quite a while for him to recover, but when he did, he slowly made his way home.

He was already behind schedule so when he came in through the front door, his sisters ran out him like madmen.

"Where have you been?!"

"Are you okay?!"

"What are you thinking, staying out this late?!"

He was constantly getting bombarded with questions from all seven sisters. Finally, his mother and father entered the fray to calm the storm.

"Jaune Arc, where have you been?"

"Sorry, but…"

"Why do you look like that? Did you get beat up?"

"Mom, don't worry about it. I brought the food so we should be okay." At that moment, all of his sisters hugged him and then stole the food. After that, he was finally able to recover without being swarmed by massive amounts of people. He headed to his room, but was followed closely by his father.

"Jaune, is there something you want to tell me?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I made it back home. Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Alright, there's no need to get angry. Dinner will be ready soon so be sure to come out and join us."

"Okay, I will." He closed his door behind him and sat down on his chair. He looked up at the ceiling in exhaustion. "I don't think this was the best definition of a first day at school." He sat back up and walked over to his closet to change out of his school uniform. "Pyrrha Nikos… What was that all about?"

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Among the Secrets

Chapter 2

Coping with Knowledge

The next day was a drastic change for Jaune. Instead of running to school like he did the other day, he just slowly trudged to campus. When he arrived, Ren and Nora were already there to greet him. However, his initial reactions caused them to wonder if he was alright. Jaune wouldn't budge at their questions so they just decided to leave it alone for the time being.

When lunch came around, they joined up and ate together. Jaune was silent the entire time which made Ren and Nora even more curious. They couldn't stay quiet about this so they just decided to ask him and see what happened.

"Hey Jaune, I don't mean to sound pushy or anything, but are you alright? Ren and I are worried that something happened. You can talk to us, you know."

"I'm fine."

"Sorry Jaune, but I know that you're lying. Yesterday, you were so jittery and now you're like a completely different person. You're not the kind of person who just changes over night. At least, when it comes to personality or things like that."

At that moment, Jaune looked up and saw Pyrrha walking through the hall all by herself. Jaune couldn't help but stare at her while she passed by. Ren and Nora caught this quickly and watched his reaction as Pyrrha went out of sight and disappeared for the time being. That's when they cornered Jaune and asked him what was going on.

"We know what this is about, Jaune. You can't hide now. Tell us or else you're going to receive my almighty punishment." They two of them drew closer to Jaune, assuring that he wouldn't escape. However, Jaune wasn't giving up.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go." With some finesse moves, he managed to escape from their grasps. After that, he went down the hallway that Pyrrha used and did his best to keep his distance.

From afar, he watched her walk all by herself. She was heading to the quiet side of the school which was a little strange, but after a while, he found out that she was going to the student council room. That's where he was forced to stop his investigation. He remained quite a ways away until she exited the room.

Jaune was forced to stay there for a long time. The bell that ended lunch rang which caused the halls to start to fill up quickly. However, Jaune remained calm. He kept his eyes on the door until Pyrrha came out. She slammed the door shut and had a real disgusted look on her face. After that, Jaune lost her amongst all of the people. He tried to find her again, but it was worthless. With everyone crowding through the halls, all Jaune could do was head back to class and wait for the end of the day.

When the final bell rang, he literally ran out of the room and headed to the front gate with hopes that he would be able to meet up with Pyrrha. Unfortunately, she didn't show up at all. Jaune scanned the crowd of people, but couldn't find her. It wasn't until Ren and Nora saw him when he gave up on his search.

"Hey Jaune, what the heck have you been doing? You are so acting strange."

"Yeah, I gotta side with Nora on this. You're like… not you."

"Jaune?" Nora looked at him carefully and could see a look of sadness on his face. "Are you alright? I don't have to be stupid to see that something is definitely bothering you."

"I'm fine. This is just something that I have to worry about. I'm gonna head home." Without saying another word, Jaune walked off by himself. Meanwhile, Ren and Nora watched him leave. It was seeming like he was a different person the more they talked to him. Jaune wasn't the kind of person to let things bother him so there was obviously something big going on that they were unaware of.

On the way home, he decided to go to a convenience store in hopes that some snacks could cheer him up. He browsed through the store and headed up picking up just a frozen pop. He opened it up right as he got outside, but was bumped by someone passing by. The force of this bump caused him to lose control of his frozen pop and have it drop on the ground.

"Hey, what's your…" He immediately stopped his sentence as he noticed that it was the same girl that has been on his mind for the past day. It was Pyrrha.

She didn't respond. She acted as if he wasn't even there and continued on her way. Because she was putting him through such mental turmoil, he decided to follow her once again. He kept his distance and watched her every move. However, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. She just walked on the side of the road until she made it to her house. When he saw where she lived, he was speechless. She was living in a mansion that made his own house look like a shack, and his house was holding 10 people in it. Before leaving, he watched her enter her house. No one called out to her from inside and she didn't call out to anyone either.

"Hm…"

This time, he managed to get home at a more reasonable time so no one questioned him. They all just welcomed him back and prepared for dinner. During dinner, Jaune didn't say anything while the rest of his family was chatting up a storm. Since he had two parents and 7 sisters, there was never a silent moment. When Jaune finished his food, he put his plate away and headed back to his room where he was able to think more about this whole thing.

"Why is this thing bothering me? I mean… Should it be? I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time so just…"

"Hey Jaune?" His eldest sister slowly opened the door and poked her head inside. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mary. You can leave now."

"Uh, no I can't. My baby brother is down in the dumps and I can't just let this go by like it doesn't have anything to do with me."

"But it doesn't have anything to do with you."

"Oh… Really now?" At that moment, she dashed towards him threw him off the bed. Then she pinned against the ground. "I know you underestimate me because I'm a girl, but I'm the oldest so I have to be able to stand up for myself. You need to bulk up or else you're not going to be able to stand up to some of those guys at school."

"Yes, yes, I know. You don't need to rub it in my face."

"So… You going to tell me what's going on," she asked as she let go of his arm. Jaune sighed incredibly loud and eventually gave into her charms.

"Well, there's this girl I kind of know from school. She's like the most popular, most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"Aawwww, do you have a cwush?"

"Hey, are you going to listen to me or not?"

"Alright. I'm listening."

"Well, putting aside the unnecessary details, I was going to try to talk to her. Things happened and I eventually saw something that I don't think I was supposed to see."

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw that girl in an alley way with kids. They were on the grounds with white faces while she was holding a knife. Is that normal? Am I acting appropriately because if I'm not, please tell me?"

"No, no. Your reactions are valid. I'm just confused. Is this girl known for being like… that?"

"No, that's the thing that's bothering me. Everyone knows that she's super smart and super athletic and just super perfect. Why would I see something like that?"

"I don't know. You just have to consider all the possibilities. Because you don't know her, there may be things that you don't know or are unaware of. All I can say is that you shouldn't just too harshly at this point. If you can confirm your doubts than you won't be wrong. Until then, I would try talking to her." She smiled and gently tapped him on the shoulder. "I hope that helped." She got up and headed towards the door. "Now wait just a minute!" She turned around and ran right into Jaune's face. "Is this why you were late last night?!"

"Y-Yes," Jaune said nervously. "But you can't tell anyone else about this."

"Ah, don't worry about me telling anyone. I'm the oldest child. If anyone's going to tell a secret to anyone, they know to tell it to me since I have nothing to gain from it. Anyway, this was a nice talk. We'll do it again soon." She closed the door and left Jaune alone.

"Talk to her? How the heck am I supposed to do that?"

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Among the Secrets

Chapter 3

Sudden Encounter

The next day of school started out similarly to the previous one. When Jaune got to school, Ren and Nora were there to greet him, but he was still a little distant. They still were unsure of how to approach him so they decided to leave him alone for the day. Pressing matters like this shouldn't be rushed and they trusted Jaune enough to know that he would do the right thing.

For Jaune, he kept all of his attention on Pyrrha. He wanted to know where she was at all times, but the bad thing was that he couldn't find her. Throughout the entire day, he didn't see any sign of her. This was weird because she was not one to miss school unless something really bad happened. That's what Jaune was afraid of. He decided to ask around, but no one knew anything about her. No one saw her today and no one could give him any information about her whereabouts. This is when Jaune slumped into a little bit of a depression. Even though he admired her from afar, not seeing her made him feel horrible on the inside.

When school finished, Jaune decided to go straight home. He exited the academic building, but was immediately pulled to the side. He couldn't really make out who was grabbing him until they arrived at a secret hiding spot. They pinned him against the wall and gave him a death glare.

"Why are you following me?"

It was Pyrrha.

"Following you? Why would I be doing a thing like that?"

"Don't play stupid. I know you've been following me ever since that night you came across me in that alleyway. What's your problem?"

Jaune was starting to get scared. For some reason, this girl had a threatening aura to her that made him like he couldn't answer her. Any answer he might give her may cause her to get angry or hit him in some way. Jaune remained silent for a few more seconds until Pyrrha started to lose interest in the whole situation.

"Whatever. I don't have time for this. I have somewhere to be."

"I think I like you," Jaune blurted out at the top of his lungs. This random remark caused Pyrrha to stop dead in her tracks. At the same time, Jaune didn't fully realize what he had just done. He continued to look at Pyrrha and saw that she turned around slowly with the darkest look on her face.

"What did you just say?"

"Uh… I… I really like you. I was just wondering, guh!"

At that moment, Pyrrha stormed over to him and punched him across the face, sending him rolling away from her.

"You like me? Who do you think I am?"

"I don't know. That's why I wanted to talk to you so I could get to know you better." Even though Jaune was just digging himself into a deeper hole, he continued to remain strong. All he could hope for were his feelings being able to get through somehow.

"Trust me… You don't want to know me better. Anything you've heard about me is false. No matter what you've heard, it's all wrong. I hope I never have to see again." She turned around and stormed off without another word, leaving Jaune to pick himself up off the ground.

"There is just something about that girl. I don't know what it is, but I can't help but feel intrigued. Ow!" He tried standing up, but the pain in his stomach prevented him from doing so. "Wow, talk about déjà vu."

…

Jaune eventually made it back home without any suspicions from his family. He headed up to his room and immediately got to work. He pulled out all of his yearbooks and other school-related things to find out more about this girl. His intentions weren't anything stalker-like… It only seemed that way because he had feelings for this girl and wanted to know why she was like this. Once all of his things were out, he skimmed through them as quickly as he could.

It all started back in junior high. Apparently, the two of them went to the same school together ever since then, but he never realized it until high school. All of his yearbooks talked mentioned the greatest student and the greatest athletes and Pyrrha was on all of those lists for the girls. She scored at the top of everything and the yearbooks all made sure that that was duly noted. This was where Jaune started to get confused. If she was so perfect, why was she acting like this? There was no way it was just because she had to focus on her own things to not be bothered by other people. There was more to it, and Jaune was going to figure out what it was.

For the two years of junior high, Pyrrha was the star of the school. She managed to be the smartest student overall and the most athletic girl. Once it was established that Jaune could get nothing more from junior high, he moved onto the high school yearbooks and he immediately found the same story. His freshman and sophomore yearbooks were similar in that no one was able to take the top spot from Pyrrha. It was almost as if they didn't want to or something. Also, high school yearbooks included more memories of just the students so this was where things started to get interesting.

Whenever Pyrrha was in a random picture in the yearbook, there was always a guy with her who seemed pretty close to her. Jaune could only conclude that he was some kind of boyfriend or something. He was almost every picture with her and the two of them look happy. Unfortunately, this only made him grossed out. That's when he moved to his junior year.

For the first half of the year, Pyrrha maintained her top position in the school as well as maintain her lovey-dovey relationship with that guy. However, when Jaune got to the second half of the year, things started to change. Pyrrha, somehow, lost her number one spot to a girl named Weiss Schnee and her athletics came to a mysterious end. The photos of Pyrrha and that guy almost immediately stopped as well. In fact, Jaune couldn't even find a picture of her in the second half of the yearbook. The only one he managed to find was her in the background, walking all by herself.

"What?!"

"Jaune? Is everything alright up there?"

"Yeah mom, sorry about that!" He closed the book and leaned back in his chair. "What the heck just happened? It's like she just fell off the face of the world. None of this makes any sense. Ugh!" Jaune stood up from his chair and grabbed his jacket to head downstairs.

"Hey bro, what's up?" One of his sisters stopped him before he could make a silent escape.

"I'm just going to step out for a second. I'll be back. Don't tell anyone, please."

"You got it boss," she said as she gave him a salute.

Jaune made it outside, but didn't know where to go so he just walked in one direction and let the sidewalk guide him to wherever he needed to go. During his walk, Pyrrha couldn't leave his mind. All of this weirdness going on and he couldn't make sense of any of it. What happened to her during junior year? Why is acting like this now? What happened to her relationship? All of these questions were popping up in his head that he had no answers for. Eventually, his walk took him to a nearby convenience store so he decided to go in a grab something to snack on.

When he exited the store, he heard some trashcans tip over from the back of the store.

"Probably some cats."

"Get off of me!"

Jaune immediately stopped in his tracks. That was a girl's voice. Without putting a second thought into this, he ran to the back of the store and hid around the corner.

"No. we seriously need to talk about us."

"There's nothing to talk about. I broke up with you and that's that."

"See. I don't know like how that plays out. We were so perfect for each other. Why would you want to end it there? We had such a connection."

"No we didn't. You crossed the line and didn't even apologize."

"Okay fine. I'm sorry. Can we make up now?" The guy tried to get close to the girl when she slapped him across the face.

"Who the hell do you think you are… Thinking that a simple sorry will make it all better."

At that moment, he tightened his fist and punched her across the face, knocking her into the garbage cans behind her.

"Your boyfriend, you bitch!"

Jaune could barely keep still. He wanted to intervene, but he wasn't so sure if he should since the girl was Pyrrha.

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Among the Secrets

Chapter 4

No Getting Closer

Jaune couldn't sit still any longer. He clenched his fist and ran at the guy with everything he had, tackling him to the ground.

"What the…"

Jaune knocked him down and started to punch him as quickly as he could. As effective as it seemed to be, it didn't work for long. The guy grabbed Jaune's fist out of the air and threw him off of him. That's when their positions switched. The guy jumped on top of Jaune and started to beat the crap out of him. Luckily, that only lasted a few seconds until some passerbyers came to break up the fight. When they got the guy off of Jaune, he immediately stormed off in anger.

"Hey kid, you alright?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Jaune pushed them off of him and walked over to Pyrrha was still recovering from that punch. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Don't touch me."

"Jeez, your eye is starting to swell." He tried reaching for it, but Pyrrha smacked his hand out of the way before he could. "I'll go back into the store and get some ice." Jaune stood up and ran into the store to quickly buy some ice. When he returned to where he left her, she was already gone. "Tch… What the heck? She didn't have to leave. I was trying to help her." He looked around, but soon realized that she was gone. "Well, I guess I'll use this on myself." He pressed the ice pack on his face and walked home.

However, when he got home, he knew that he couldn't walk through the front door in his condition. He looked up and saw that his window was still open so he decided to climb up to it as quietly as he could. Since he was a little banged, it was difficult to climb, but he eventually made it into his room. He then tiptoed to the door and turned on the lights.

"What up with the puffy face?"

"Gah, Mary, what are you doing here?"

"Well, your little sister was acting strange whenever I brought up your name so I decided to check on you since you've been acting strange. When I got here, you weren't so I decided to wait until you popped up from wherever you were. And I it looks as though you're here. You wanna tell me where you were and why you're face looks like… that?"

"Not really."

"Look Jaune, you know I'm not the tattletale type, but I want to know what's going on. Mom and dad won't find out about this. Just tell me why you've been acting so strange." She sat down on his bed and gestured him to join her.

"Alright fine, but I'll only tell you the basic of basics since I don't know much myself."

"That's fine. Anything to help you out, I'd glad to hear."

Jaune took a deep breath and told her the things he knew about the situation.

"It's about a girl."

"Alright, let me stop you right there. Is this the same girl you talked to me about before?"

"Yes."

"Have you still not talked to her?"

"Uh, well, not really. But it's more than just that. She used to be the smartest and most athletic girl in school, but after the first half of junior year, she completely changed. She was no longer in the running for top grades and didn't even continue with her sport team. Another thing that doesn't really matter is that she broke up with her boyfriend at the same time too. The reason why I looked like this is because they got into a fight that got kind of messy so I tried breaking it up."

"Messy? How messy could it get for _your_ face to look like this?"

"Well…" Jaune started to get a little hesitant. Just thinking about what happened made him really worried. "He tried beating her up, but I stopped him…"

"Wait? He beat her up?!"

"It was just a punch. I got to him before he could do anything else."

"Oh my God, Jaune. That's physical violence. Shouldn't we call the police?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about that, but the girl didn't even seemed phased by this. I tried helping her, but she vanished before I could."

"I cares what she looks like. She got punched by a guy. Wait, before I get too carried away… Where did she get punched?"

"I-In the face."

"Jesus Christ! We seriously need to call the police."

"Hey, what's going on up there?"

"Nothing. We're all good up here." Mary lowered her voice substantially. "Jaune, we need to call the police. Even if it's being precautionary, we have to do it. We can't let this happen again."

"I know, but I just don't think this will happen again."

"You can't be so sure about things like this."

"Mary, please stop panicking. I can handle this."

"Can you? Your face doesn't even look like yours anymore."

"You're overreacting."

"So what if I am? This is kind of an important issue."

"And I will handle it."

Mary gave him a real dirty look, but decided to back off in the end. She sighed incredibly loud and then stood up from his bed with the most annoyed look on her face.

"I'll let this slide for now. Just please do something about this, Jaune."

"I will."

"Okay." She turned around and walked out, leaving Jaune to recover another night of interesting events.

"Ugh, I thought senior would be awesome. It turns out it's quite the opposite." He turned over on his side and stared at the wall. "Is there really something I can do? She's completely out of my league and I still haven't actually talked to her yet? I do need to do something though." He turned onto his back and stared at the ceiling. "Tomorrow's the weekend. I think I should start to get some work done."

…

When Jaune woke up, he immediately got ready and headed out the door. He used his newfound knowledge to find his way back to Pyrrha's house. However, when he got there, he was a little confused about what to do next. The house had a huge gate around it so he wasn't sure on how he could talk to her. He looked around and saw a small callbox near the gate. He pressed the button and waited patiently.

"Yes? Who is this?"

"Hi, my name is Jaune Arc. I was wondering if I could speak to Pyrrha Nikos."

"We are terribly sorry sir, but Ms. Nikos is away for the time being. Would you like to leave a message?"

Right as Jaune was about to open his mouth to speak, his mind suddenly shut himself down. He wanted to talk to her, but he knew that there was a better way than having his message relayed to her, and he didn't even know if it would get relayed.

"Um, no thank you. Have a nice day." He turned around and headed back the other way.

During his little walk, he came across a park that really nice to spend some time alone. However, when he was about to walk towards the benches, he spotted Pyrrha sitting there all alone. As quickly as he could, he dove into a pile of bushes to see if she spotted him. Now, it was obvious that she did, but she didn't do anything about it. She just sat there with her a book in her hands and looked as though she was writing something. That's when Jaune stuck his head out from the bushes. There was still no response on Pyrrha's part so he took a deep breath and exited his hiding place to get closer to her.

He took it slow, but the longer he did this, the more he started to realize that she wasn't paying attention to him at all. It was almost as if he didn't even exist. Once he was reached the bench that she was sitting on, he sat on the opposite end and twirled with his fingers for a bit before speaking up.

"Um, hey." His voice was shaky, but it didn't even matter since she didn't respond to his comment. "I was, uh, just wondering if you were okay." He looked at her and saw that she still had no intention of talking to him. "Did you get that eye checked out?"

At that moment, she slapped her pencil against the book and turned to face him.

"What are you doing?"

"Eh?"

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm pretty sure that I've made it clear that we don't need to affiliate with each other. It's best for the both of us that we remain strangers to each other. You can understand that, right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Good, then I think it best that you leave now." She turned back around and picked her pencil to start drawing once again.

"But you're always by yourself and I couldn't let that continue." Jaune made sure that his voice could heard, and it was definitely heard. Pyrrha suddenly froze at the sound of his words and turned back towards him.

"What did you just say?" The both of them had looks of bewilderment as this was the first time the two of them were having an actual conversation.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Among the Secrets

Chapter 5

Friends

"What did you say?"

"I…" Jaune was about to repeat his words from before, but he knew that that wouldn't be effective. He quickly reworded his thoughts and spoke his mind. "I know that my feelings for you will not be returned so I thought we could start off as friends."

"Friends?"

"Yeah. All kids nowadays have friends. Why are you acting so strange? Do you not have friends?"

"Friends haven't been a good thing for me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Friends just haven't been practical for me."

"Well, I can be your first practical friend."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? Tell me that. That's the least you can do."

"Because I can't be a friend back. I've done too much in my past to have friends that can rely on me and ones that I can rely on. That's why I'm like this. That's why I constantly try to…"

"I don't care." Jaune suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders and shut his eyes tight. "I told myself that I would make this senior year one to never forget, and I'm sure, without a single strand of doubt, that this is the kind of thing that I need. I know you don't want to be alone and I don't want see you alone. At least let me be your friend."

"You do realize that some girls don't like pushy guys like you."

"I know, but I'm not trying to make you like. Just let me be your friend."

Pyrrha turned her head and took a deep breath.

"So… What do you say?"

"You'll need to give me some time to think about this… But don't think that it'll be an easy decision." She put her notepad, grabbed her bag, and walked away in silence.

"I'll see you around then." Jaune tried to get her to wave back to him, but she refused to look back at him.

…

When Jaune got home, he quickly noticed that something was up. All of his sisters were waiting at the door with his parents nowhere in sight. He looked around at them and saw that they were staring at him intensively.

"So… What's going on?"

At that moment, they grabbed him and pulled him into the living room. That's when they threw him against the chair in the middle of the room and tied him down so that he couldn't escape.

"Hey, what the heck is going on here? Mary! Where is Mary?!"

"I'm right here, bro."

"What are they doing? Make them stop."

"Why are you asking me to do that?"

"Because you're the oldest sister. They'll listen to you."

"Sorry Jaune, but whatever Mary says, we're not going to listen to her. We've been anxious this whole time and now that we have you, we're not letting you escape."

"What are you talking about? Wait a second… You told them, didn't you?" His eyes were directed right at Mary, but she turned her head as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "I told you to keep it a secret!"

"Hey, you're the one throwing around accusations. I didn't tell them anything. I thought I made it clear that I'm at keeping secrets. Lying… Eh, well, not so much."

"So, Jaune, you wanna tell us why you've been so distant with all of us?"

"Of course not. This is none of your concern. Now, if you'll untie me, I'd like to go up to my room now." He looked at all of them, but none of them were budging. However, he waited a few seconds since he knew that they couldn't all keep up this act. Those few seconds went by and Jaune quickly realized that they were all very serious about this. "I'm not telling you guys so just drop this act already."

"If you're going to be stingy about this then you leave us no choice. Bring out the ultimate weapon." At that moment, the sisters parted and introduced Jaune to his youngest sister. She walked in with her blanket and stood right in front of him. She then looked up at him with the cutest, most innocent look on the planet.

"No, you can't do this. This… This is cheating."

His little sister threw on the charm until he eventually gave in. His sisters' plan worked as they planned. They all leaned in and listened to Jaune's story that was no longer a secret anymore.

…

Pyrrha was all alone at home as she wandered the halls with a busy mind. She was so confused about what was going on. For her, she made it a point that she would be alone and now, this boy was trying to make his way into her life. She wanted to know why he was being so persistent. He didn't even know her so it didn't make any sense for him to want to be friends… But that was it. That's how friends are made. People who are different at first, but eventually get to know each other through encounters and time spent together.

Unfortunately, Pyrrha didn't want that. She didn't need that. Friends were worthless and this boy didn't have anything appealing about himself to make her want to change her mentality. Her mind was nearly set. There was just a small thing that was keeping her from making up her mind. Once she got into her room, she pulled out her yearbooks and looked through them, just like Jaune did.

She started at her middle school years and quickly realized that things have changed. She saw that she used to be so happy. In every picture she was in, she had a smile on and was surrounded by other happy people. Other than this, she was the star of her class. She was at the top of the ranks for academics and athletics. It seemed as if that was a totally different time. Truth be told, it was a different time. That's why Pyrrha was the way she was now. She didn't want things to be the way they were and that's why she acts like this. The strange thing is that this boy was an unexpected encounter for her. She had no idea that he would make her feel this way. It was a feeling of uncertainty and confusion.

Once she was done with all of her yearbooks, she snapped them shut and took a long sigh. This was making her contemplate way too hard such a simple thing.

"Why is this so hard to figure out?"

…

When the next of school came around, Jaune was both calm and anxious. He wanted to hear back from Pyrrha, but at the same time, he was afraid of what she might say if she rejected his request. Whatever her decision was, he had to be ready for it. As he walked through the halls, a hand grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to the side. It was Pyrrha. She pinned him against the wall and gave him a really serious look.

"Pyrrha, I…"

"Shut up." Her eyes were menacing which only made Jaune feel smaller and more inferior. "Your request was something interesting. Why you want to become my friend is something that I'll never understand, but I have an answer." She let go of him and let him stand up on his own. "I'll let you be my friend, but I won't acknowledge you as one. If you can't accept that then you can forget about it entirely." Without another word, she turned around and walked off.

"Huh? What does that mean?" Without even thinking, Jaune caught up with her and tried to see if she could clarify what she was talking about. "So what you mean by that is… Guh!"

She suddenly elbowed him in the gut.

"You can be my friend, but I can't be your friend. It's simple. I thought you were smarter than this."

"But… That doesn't make any sense," Jaune struggled to say. The pain in his gut was too much. "Also… What is with you and my stomach?"

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Among the Secrets

Chapter 6

Moment of Realization

Pyrrha went home with a confused mind. Most times in her life, she knew what she needed to know or what things made sense to her, but what was going on with her now was just something else. This boy just comes out of nowhere and confesses his love. When that doesn't work, he settles for being her friend. What kind of person does that? She didn't think too hard about this on her way home since there was still the rest of the day to use up.

When she got home, the house was empty and quiet as always. She dropped her bag on the ground and headed up to her room. That's when she decided to look through her old yearbooks. Middle school was filled with great memories. She was always smiling and always had people around her. Her grades were outstanding and sports were like second nature to her. However, she didn't settle for these little things. She browsed through the book in search of Jaune's existence. He was there. His normal yearbook picture as normal as some of the other moments during the school years.

As she got a good look at him, nothing really stood out to her. He was mostly a loner kid that didn't do a lot in middle school. When she switched over to high school, things took a turn for the both of them. Jaune started to get more involved with school. He went to almost every school event and was a part of many clubs. Eventually, she came across a picture of Jaune and an Asian boy. She had no recollection of seeing that other boy in her middle school yearbook so he had to be new. When she looked back at her own experience, she saw that things started to change. She looked less happy and more secluded to just herself.

More pages and books went by until a girl starting showing up. She was a peppy redhead that seemed to glue that group together. Meanwhile, Pyrrha continued to be sadder and more secluded. That was when junior year happened. There was no sign of her while Jaune and his friends were like the stars of the book. They were everywhere looking so happy. That's when she looked up and pressed her hand against her chest.

"Is this how high school could have been for me?" Pyrrha tried to continue through the yearbook, but it was just too hard. She closed it and took a deep breath. "It's all their fault… But then again, it's almost my fault as well." Pyrrha continued to look at the pictures and think about how she really felt.

…

When the next day of school came around, Pyrrha made sure to get there on time because there was something she needed to do.

"Hey Jaune."

"Hey guys."

"Where have you been? You've been so distant lately. We've almost been kind of worried."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It's just that I had some things I had to deal with. However, you won't need to worry about me anymore. Jaune is back. Team JNR is back together."

"Ahh yyeeeah."

"You know, now that I think about it… Isn't that name kind of outdated?"

"Ren, what are you talking about?"

"I don't know. We're seniors now. Maybe we should try to figure out something new, something creative for our final year together."

"Jaune?"

At that moment, the three of them turned their heads to see Pyrrha standing before them.

"Hey Pyrrha," he said as he covered his stomach from a possible punch.

"I was wondering if we could talk."

"Sure. Hey guys, this is…"

"Don't worry about it, Jaune. We'll catch you later."

"Alright." He waved goodbye to them which left Jaune and Pyrrha alone once again. For some reason, Jaune felt a little scared because most of the time, he was the one who approached Pyrrha. All of those other times were just on strange occasions. Now that she sought him out, things were bound to get interesting.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to say… I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For the things I said to you. I realized that I was being harsh to someone that I didn't even know."

"Oh, that? There's no harm in…"

"No, there is. I don't know why I said those things. I feel really bad so I was hoping that you'd forgive me."

"There's nothing to forgive you for. I know that my way of approaching you in the past has been a little too strong so that's something I should apologize for. But, I mean, if you're forcing yourself to do this, you don't have to. That's just what friends do."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. Friends always have times where things are a little on-edge. All we need to do then is work it out and hope to get over it."

"Doesn't that seem a little too easy?"

"Yeah, it is too easy, but only the best of friends can do this that easily. Ren, Nora, and I already do that. Maybe you can join in with us because I can guarantee that you'll love them." Jaune looked at Pyrrha and saw a nervous look on her face. "But then again, if you don't want to, you don't have to."

"No, I want to. I don't really have a lot of friends so maybe making some more friends would be a good idea."

"How do you not have any friends? You're the like most popular girl in the school."

"You'd be surprised."

"Alright, well… During lunch, I'll introduce you to my friends. Does that sound like a plan?"

Pyrrha nodded her head. After that, the bell rang to go to class and the two of them went their separate ways. During her class, Pyrrha felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of her chest. She couldn't really believe she did that and she couldn't believe that Jaune was so forgiving. Any other person would have hated Pyrrha for doing those things to them. At that moment, she realized that no one would even try to approach her with the way she's been acting these past few years. Jaune was different and Pyrrha was starting to realize it. All of this time, she never needed to think about things in too much detail, but this boy was throwing her for a loop. She didn't know why, but she wanted to know why, one way or another.

Once the lunch bell rang, Pyrrha made it out of her classroom in search of Jaune. It didn't take that long to find him since he was looking for her as well. When they met up with each other, Jaune guided her to where the three of them normally have lunch. It was a nice place just outside of the academic building. It was perfectly shaded with a good view of the outside parts of the school. When they arrived, Ren and Nora were already starting their lunches.

"Hey guys, I would like to introduce you to one of my friends. This is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Hi," she said with the friendliest wave she could. She looked at the two when she and the girl made eye contact.

"Oh my God… I get to meet the illustrious Pyrrha Nikos. Me? This is such a momentous day. I've been idolizing you for so long. You're beautiful and smart and talented and ugh… How can you be so perfect? You're incredible."

"Um…"

"Excuse this girl, she can be kind of loopy sometimes. My name is Lie Ren and it's a pleasure to meet you. Nora, how about you get out of your trance and introduce yourself?"

"Oh right, my bad. I am Nora Valkyrie and I can't stress how awesome it is to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too."

"So wait, does this mean that we are gaining another member for our team?"

"Nora, calm down. We just met her today. I think we should be taking things a lot slower."

"Team, what do you mean?"

"Oh, she's talking about…"

"Excuse me, but allow me to take the reins for this." Nora threw her arms in front of Jaune to shut him up before he could say any more. "It all started during sophomore year. Jaune and Ren first met each other in their homeroom class and quickly became friends. They did nearly everything together, until I came into the picture. When junior year came around, I moved here and got transferred into their class and we immediately clicked. We did all sorts of things together and that's when we realized that we were a team. We supported each other and tried to hang out with each other as much as we could. That's why we are called Team JNR. It's simply perfect, isn't it? I came up with the name." Nora was looking right at Pyrrha with such pride, but Pyrrha wasn't really having any of it.

"Sorry if she's dumping too much on your plate right now, but I can promise you that's she really easy to get along with. Nora's a nice girl."

"You know it Jaune and you better not forget about it."

"Don't worry. How could I ever forget about you?"

"Aw Jaune, you're making me blush. Stop it you."

Even though Pyrrha was with them, she could feel that there was a barrier between her and them. They seemed so close while she was just some outsider trying to find her way into their group. In her head, she felt as if these people were people she could feel comfortable around. She was just afraid that they might think of her as someone who could never actually be a part of their group.

After their introductions, Jaune settled down and asked Pyrrha to join him. She was a little nervous, but eventually sat down with them and the four of them ate their lunch.

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Among the Secrets

Chapter 7

Becoming Friends

When school finished for the day, Ren, Nora, and Jaune made their way to the entrance gate of the school and decided to wait for Pyrrha. To all of their surprises, she walked out of the academic building and made her way over to them. Once she was made it over to them, she stopped and gave them the friendliest smile she could muster up.

"Hey Pyrrha."

"Hi Jaune."

"Alright. I've got the best idea ever. You guys should all hear me out."

"Okay. What you got?"

"To commemorate this new friendship with Pyrrha, I was thinking that we should go out and do something together this weekend."

"Hey, that's a great idea. I'm open. What about you two?"

"I'm free. What about you Pyrrha?"

"Um, I don't think I'm doing anything. What did you have in mind?"

"Haha, you'll love this. Because of what happened last time we did this, I decided that we should go bowling. Ren had me on the ropes, but I won't let that happen this time. What do you guys think?"

"I'm in."

"You know I'm in." At that moment, the three of them looked at Pyrrha with the least threatening that they could give her.

"Y-Yeah, it sounds like fun."

"Great! We will meet at the bowling alley tomorrow at noon. Till then… Team JNR on three!"

"Whoa, Nora, hold up for a second. We can't do that anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because Pyrrha's a part of our group now. We need to come up something else."

"Right. Hmm…" Nora thought hard about a new name, but nothing came to mind. "Alright, we'll just have to part for now, but I think we should all come up with something a share it tomorrow. Until then… I'll see you guys."

"Bye."

Ren and Nora waved goodbye to them as they headed in the opposite directions. Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha realized that their houses were in the same general direction so they decided to walk together. However, their conversation was a little scarce. They didn't really know what to say to each other so most of the time was spent looking at the ground, hoping that their house was in the near distance. This only lasted until Pyrrha came out with something that was bothering her.

"Hey Jaune?" She stopped where she was and called out to him. Her voice caused him to stop a few steps in front of her and turn back to her.

"Yeah?"

"I know it's late to say this, but I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"It has to do with what I apologized for the last time. I apologized for what I did to you, but I never actually said sorry for what I said to you. I was weary that being your friend meant things that I couldn't deal with, but as I hang out with you and your friends, I start to realize that there's nothing wrong with being with you guys. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry. I'm not one to hold grudges against people. And anyway, you're trying to do something that you're not comfortable with so you don't need to worry yourself about this."

"Oh, alright."

At that moment, they reached the fork in the road where their house were located. They said goodbye to each other and headed home. It wasn't much, but the two of them felt like that gap from before was slowly becoming smaller.

…

When noon on the next day came around, the four of them met up at the bowling alley and to their surprise, Pyrrha was the first one there. She greeted all of them with a friendly good morning until they were all ready to get this day started. They paid for the games and got ready to bowl. Jaune was first. Nora insisted on going second since she said that that was her lucky spot. Ren went after her and Pyrrha went last. When the lane lit up, Jaune grabbed his ball and took his position. He did his wind up and threw the ball, only to get a four.

"Haha, Jaune, seriously?! I know it's your first throw, but man!"

"Nora, watch it!" He waited for his ball and went again. This time, he managed to spare the frame.

"Alright, alright. Everyone back up. Jaune's getting in the zone."

"Nora, just throw the ball."

"Oh don't worry, I will." She grabbed her ball and did her normal ritual. She took two deep breaths, looked down the lane, and threw the ball as hard as she could. Immediately, the ball started to veer off to the left until it landed in the gutter. At that moment, everyone, including Pyrrha started to chuckle to themselves until Nora turned around with the cutest puppy face in the world. "That was a warm-up."

"Um… Didn't you just criticize me for my first throw?"

"Whatever." She turned back around and reached for her ball. This time, she threw the ball and made sure it went straight. Unfortunately, it only got her a 5. "Oh man, I think it's going to be one of those days," she said as she sat down on the chair.

"Haha, it's okay Nora. We all have those kind of days." Ren stood up and bowled his first frame. By no surprise, he managed to get a strike which still surprised Jaune and Nora.

"As good as always Ren."

"Thanks Jaune."

"Okay Pyrrha, you're up. Don't worry about doing bad. If we say anything bad about you, just know that it's a joke that comes from the bottom of our hearts'."

"Yeah, you got this Pyrrha."

"Alright." Pyrrha stood up and decided what ball to use. Immediately, Jaune knew that something was up. Usually girls would just pick the lightest ball and throw without a care in the world, but Pyrrha was different. She felt every ball until she found one that she was able to pick up with some effort put into it. She walked up to the line and placed the ball right in front of her face. Her eyes were glued to the ten pins at the end of the lane. She took a deep breath and did her wind up. Right as she let go of the ball, they could all see the incredible spin on it. The ball stuck to the right side of the lane until the last second where it veered back into the middle and crashed into all of the pins, giving her a strike. She walked back to her seat while the other three were looking at her as if she was some kind of alien.

"W-W-What the heck?"

"She's… She's good."

"Whoa Pyrrha, where'd that come from?"

"What? That? Oh yeah, in the past, I was pretty fond of sports and bowling was one of the ones I paid attention to. I was nervous that I would be a little rusty, but I guess that's not the case." She sounded so confident, but the other three were incomplete awe.

"Dang Ren… It looks like you've got some competition."

After those words, their little bowling game turned into a grudge match. Ren and Pyrrha were going at it like professionals. All of their frames were strikes so their scores were going up like crazy while Jaune and Nora were sitting back like little kids watching their parents do what they do best. And honestly, they were the kids because Ren and Pyrrha were on a completely different level. Whenever Ren did something awesome, Pyrrha came back with something even better. Even though they didn't show, neither of them actually knew who was going to win. Jaune and Nora were having that similar thought. Both of them were very good, but eventually, one of them had to give ground.

When the final frame came around, Ren stood up, but changed his tactic. He turned around and faced Pyrrha. He stuck out his hand and smiled.

"Hey, this was an incredible. I've never had to go all out when bowling. Thank you."

"Sure. I'm glad that you're enjoying this." She stuck out her hand and shook it with a smile on her face as well.

Meanwhile, Jaune and Nora were a little shocked. Even though they were interacting this entire time, this was the first that the two of them were talking like normal people. All they cared about was what pins they knocked down and what the other one did for their turn. They couldn't help but smile at this event.

Ren stood up the line and readied himself for the final frame. His first throw was a strike. His second throw was another strike. Unfortunately, all good things can't last forever. His final throw knocked down all, but one of them. His eyes shot wide open. The other three couldn't really believe it either. Ren is the best bowler that they know and yet, here he is at the mercy of Pyrrha who has yet to go up.

When it was her turn, she grabbed her ball and did her normal routine. Her first throw was a strike. By now, Ren was starting to lose his cool. Her second throw was also a strike. Ren was biting his nails and sweating in all places of his body. He knew what was going to happen and yet, he was afraid to face the truth of the matter. Pyrrha's final throw went fast. The ball smashed into the pins and knocked them all down for the strike that gave her the victory.

"Woo! Go Pyrrha! Go Pyrrha!" Nora jumped out of her chair and pumped her fists.

"Nnoooo!" Meanwhile, Ren collapsed onto his knees and reached for the roof. This was the ending he was expecting and now that it was here, he hated it so much.

"Hey… Thanks for the great game."

He looked up and saw Pyrrha's hand reaching for him. It only took him a second to smile and accept the gesture.

"I don't say this often when it comes to bowling, but you are incredible."

"Thank you. And you're not bad yourself."

"Hey, you guys realize that we paid for two games."

At that moment, they looked at each other with embarrassed looks. They totally went all out without even realizing that there's more game to be played. However, they came up with the best solution. Ren and Nora teamed up and Jaune and Pyrrha teamed up. This made it easier on the two of them since they were starting to get a little sore.

Once the game was over, they headed out of the building to say their final words for the day.

"So did any of you guys come up with a name for us?"

"Oh right… No, I didn't. Did you?"

"No. Nora, you know that I'm not that creative."

"Well, I just joined the group so I don't think it would be right for me to come up the name."

All that was left was Jaune's answer.

"Um, I think I came up with a name. It's not very good and it may be a little girly."

"Who cares? What did you come up with?"

"I thought of the Team JNPR." He waited a few seconds to see the reactions of everyone and immediately, he could tell that they all loved it, including Pyrrha.

"Alrighty, I think that settles it. Team JNPR on three. One… Two… Three…"

"Team JNPR!"

After their chant, Ren and Nora decided to be the first ones to head home together while Jaune and Pyrrha were just a little after the,. On the way there, Pyrrha was definitely more talkative than the last time they did this. She was saying how fun today was and how she's never experienced anything like this. All Jaune could say was that he was very happy that she was happy. Their first stop was Pyrrha's house. They stopped in front of the gate and said their goodbyes. However, Jaune was tempted to say something else to her, but knew that it was just too early. He bit his tongue and walked off. Meanwhile, Pyrrha could tell that something was bothering him, but she wasn't sure what.

Jaune knew that he promised to be friends with Pyrrha, but today solidified the idea that she was something special and that he wanted to be a bigger part of her life.

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

Among the Secrets

Chapter 8

A Girl's Day Out

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I'm sorry about not updating last week. By this point, you should all know why last week was pretty empty. Anyway, here's the chapter so I hope you enjoy. Be sure to let me know how I'm doing since you guys are my best source of growth.

When the next week of school came around, Team JNPR met up first thing in the morning and chatted up a storm until class started. Unfortunately, Pyrrha wasn't that much of a talker. However, she was definitely listening to the words that the other three were sharing. When the bell rang, Jaune and the other two headed to their class while Pyrrha headed to hers. That's when the three of them got a little sad. They were a team now and yet, one of their members was not in the same class as they were.

Thankfully, they always had lunch. That's when all four of them met up and ate lunch in their usual spot. Even though they spent a lot of time together, they never ran out of things to talk about.

"So Pyrrha… What are your likes and dislikes?"

"Huh?"

"What do you like to do? I'm sorry if this such a random question, but hanging out with just guys kills my girl mojo. It's nice having another girl with me." At that moment, Nora gasped as if she was trying to suck in all of the air in the world. "I have the greatest idea ever. I mean… I know I'm filled with all sorts of good ideas, but I think this is one is definitely up there on that list. Pyrrha Nikos, this weekend, I declare us to have our first girls' day out, and you can't say no to this. We will meet at a place called Heaven in Vale. I can guarantee that you'll love it there."

"Uh…"

"Nora, don't you think this is a little too sudden?"

"No, it's fine. I think that would be fun."

"Ha! See Jaune… You don't know everything."

"I do not. That is a for sure."

For the rest of the week, nothing too special came up. Nora constantly talked about being able to spend time with Pyrrha which was nice. All Jaune and Ren could do was smile and hope that things go well between the two of them.

When the weekend came around, Pyrrha and Nora met up at the place she was talking about and they immediately got down to business. It was a very nice-looking spa with barely anyone there. Pyrrha had to ask about this and Nora simply told her that she had connections. The two of them were then seated on the chairs and the specialists got down to work on the both of them.

The first thing that they worked on was their hair. Between the two of them, their hair were complete opposites, but this didn't affect the workers. They managed to do a great job as well as complimented them on how healthy their hair was. After that was over, they were moved to the back of the place for a massage. This was when the relaxing truly took place. Even though it was only the first semester, both of them had a lot of stress that the massage was easily rubbing away. That part lasted a while, but once it was done, they moved onto the last part which were manicures and pedicures. This was also the time the two of them were able to talk to each other without any major distractions.

"So Pyrrha, if you don't mind me asking, how did you and Jaune meet?"

"Meet? Um, we kind of just bumped into each other in the hallway and things just took off from there."

"Aw, that's so cute. Haha. What was he like?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did he act around you?"

"Wouldn't you know the answer to that since you know him more than I do?"

"Not precisely. When I met Jaune, he was so shy and so cute. He and Ren talked all the time, but whenever I was in the picture, he grew quiet and almost embarrassed. He was the sweetest little thing when we first met each other. Now, he's almost like a different person. He's grown up and a lot more handsome."

"Oh, so you like him?"

"Jaune? Of course not. Don't say things like that, haha. He's like my little brother. I could never like him like that. I think the real question, though, is… Do you like him?"

"Eh?! Why would you ask me that?"

"What? It's not that strange of a question. Girls talk about stuff like this all of the time."

Pyrrha suddenly looked down. She wasn't socially awkward in any way. It's just been so long since she's had a casual conversation with another girl.

"You're right."

"So, are you going to spill the beans?"

"I'm sorry, but I have nothing that you'd like to hear. He's just a friend. We're not anything special. We just met after all."

"I guess that's true. We can move onto a different topic. Do you play any other sports aside from bowling," she asked with a little snicker, thinking about Ren and his historic loss to her.

"Well, not to brag, but I pretty much can play all of them. I just choose not to."

"Aw, why not? If you were on the school teams, we would totally go watch and support you."

"It's okay. I never liked school sports teams."

"Oh, well, did you know that Jaune is on the school baseball team?"

"He is?"

"Yeah. I guess he's been doing it since sophomore year. When Ren and I figured this out, we decided to go to every single one of his games and they are actually really fun. You should join us when the season comes."

"Okay."

After that, there was a little break in their conversation. It wasn't due to an awkward transition in their talking. They were just enjoying being tended to by the amazing people working in that spa. However, Pyrrha was thinking a little to herself. Jaune, Ren, and Nora were all very special people that she's actually glad to be around. They treat her like she's always wanted to be treated. They're very nice and very open with each other which was something she's never actually experienced with her friends in the past. She was finally starting to realize that she could call these three her friends without any doubt in her heart.

"Hey Pyrrha?"

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering… Have you ever been in a relationship?"

"I have. Why?"

"I don't know. You just seemed like the kind of girl who got hit on by all sorts of guys. That was not meant to be taken as an insult or anything. If anything, what I meant to say was that you're very pretty and any guy would be lucky to be with you."

"Thanks Nora, but it's not always nice."

"What do you mean? I mean… If it's a sensitive topic, you don't have to tell me about it, but I am kind of curious."

"I've actually only had one relationship and it didn't go well at all."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. It was my fault that it even was a thing."

"Well, as long as you learned from that experience, that's all that matters."

"I did. I learned that being alone is the better path."

"Don't say that!" At that moment, Nora reached over and put her hand on top of Pyrrha's. This caused Pyrrha to look over at Nora who was looking her straight in the eyes. "We all need friends. You may not think of us as your friends, but we consider you our friend. Being alone is never the solution. That's what Team JNR thrived on and now, Team JNPR will do the same."

Those words really hit Pyrrha hard. She had no idea that this girl could such say deep things. She always thought that she was light-hearted one in the group, but looks are always deceiving. That's when she smiled and gave Nora that same look she did to her.

"Thank you Nora. I do consider you guys my friends. I really do."

"Really? Sweet! I knew all of this work would pay off in the end."

"Haha." At that moment, Pyrrha saw the normal Nora return to her. "Hey Nora?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you're very pretty too. If guys aren't crawling to you, they're just stupid for not doing so."

"Aw Pyrrha, you're making me blush. Stop it."

The two of them started to laugh hysterically as the conversation finally returned to being light-hearted. Also, the workers moved onto the pedicure which made them laugh because their feet were a little ticklish. Once the spa was over, Nora paid for everything and the two of them exited the place.

"Well, today was very nice. I don't know how I could repay you for this."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I don't come here a lot since I've been surrounded by Jaune and Ren all of this time. It's nice having a girl in our group. It reminds me that I'm a girl."

"Nora, come on. You're being too hard on yourself. You are a very pretty girl."

"Thank you Pyrrha. You're actually the first person to ever tell me that who's not my family."

"What? Jaune and Ren don't tell you that."

"Well, they do, but… It's not the same. Jaune's my little brother and Ren is… Ren is something else," she said as she pressed her hand against her chest. "Anyway, I gotta head home. I'll see you at school, okay?"

"Okay. Bye." The two of them waved bye to each other as they headed home for the day.

When Pyrrha got home, she immediately headed up to her room and dug through her trash. When she couldn't find what she was looking for, she went through all of the other trash cans in the house until she found what she was looking for. It was a single picture frame that had a picture of her and her old boyfriend. She opened up the back and took out of the picture. She only looked at it for about a second before ripping it up and throwing the pieces on the trash. She then took the empty picture frame up to her room and placed it on her desk.

"I need a good first memory."

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

Among the Secrets

Chapter 9

The Past Comes Back

The next week started out just like every other week. The three of them met up at the entrance of the school. They waited for Pyrrha, but when the class bell rang, they couldn't wait any longer. Their only hope was that she would show up for lunch. When lunch came around, they got to their usual spot and waited for her. Time seemed to pass them in a flash as she didn't seem to show up again. That's when Jaune and Ren couldn't help but speak up about the matter.

"Alright Nora, what did you do?"

"Whoa, hold on now. Why are you two pinning this on me?"

"Um, you were kind of the only other person to see her before this week of school came around."

"So? That doesn't mean I did something to make her avoid us. I thought I did a pretty good job solidifying her into our group."

"Nora, just tell us what you did."

"I didn't do anything. All we did was spend the day at the spa. We talked about all sorts of things and it seemed as if she was really enjoying herself. Once the day was done, we parted ways and I waited until another week of school came around to say thank you to her for spending time with me. I highly doubt that I did anything wrong."

"I know. This isn't your fault. She probably just couldn't come to school today. Let's not worry about this too much. We don't want to seem like we're her parents or anything."

"Jaune's right. Let's just let it go and we'll see her tomorrow."

"Alright."

The three of them opened up their lunches and started to eat. Unfortunately, their little chat took up most of the lunch break so they weren't really able to get a good amount of food into their system. When the class bell rang again, they packed up their things and headed back to class.

For the rest of the day, the three of them were still a little curious as to why Pyrrha didn't show up to school. At this point, they still didn't know her very well, but the thing they knew most was that she wasn't one to miss out on school because of laziness or anything. All they could do was wonder why she wasn't here with them.

When school finished for the day, they headed down to the lockers, but before they reached it, Jaune stopped them and said that he forgot something in his desk. He told them to go on without him so they agreed without question. On his way back up to his classroom, he spotted a girl who looked like Pyrrha. Her hand was covering her face, but as he neared her, it was obvious that it was Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, is that you?"

There was no response. This was when Jaune had to intervene. He grabbed the girl's arm and pulled it down, revealing that it was Pyrrha.

"Oh my God. What happened to you?" Jaune saw that she had a huge black eye. "Pyrrha, tell me what happened?"

"Jaune, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"How can I not worry about this? Your face is all banged up. Who did this to you? Was it that guy from last time?" He looked at her, but she as avoiding the question. "It was totally him. Where is he? Do you know what school he goes to? Pyrrha, you gotta help me out here or else I can't help you."

"Please forget about it. Just stop."

"I won't stop." He gripped her by the shoulders and held her firmly. "If this was a girl then I'll let it go. She must have had her reasons, but if this was a guy, I could never let it go. He hurt you and that's something I just can't live with."

"Why do you care about this so much?"

"Because you're my friend and I care about you."

At that moment, she was forced to look at him. In his eyes, she could see that sense of care and worry that she didn't even know existed in people. That's when she bowed her head and closed her eyes. Tears started to run down her face which immediately caused Jaune to let go of her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to grab you that roughly."

"No, it wasn't that."

"Pyrrha, please tell me where this guy is."

She quickly wiped away her tears and looked him in the eyes.

"He's at the school on the other side of town, but Jaune… Please don't do anything."

"Oh, don't tell me you care about this guy in some special way. I don't want to hear it." Without waiting another second, he stormed out in search of that guy. Meanwhile, Pyrrha had something else to say, but was too slow to get it out. She watched Jaune leave, but before he disappeared from sight, she chased after him.

Jaune stormed through the streets until he made it to the other side of town. By now, school was out for them as well so he had to be inventive. He didn't know this place very well, but he had to wonder where high school kids spent their time once school was over for the day. He scanned every busy place looking for the guy he saw in that alley that one night. It took him a long time until he found someone that seemed to match his memory. He stayed with him until he left public eyes and went to somewhere more secluded. That's when he was able to conclude that this guy was the guy he needed to be following. The guy ended up taking a back road that probably lead to his house and this was when Jaune confronted him.

"Hey!"

"You talking to me," the guy asked as he slowly turned around to look at Jaune.

"Of course I'm talking to you, dumbass. You're the one who hurt Pyrrha."

"Pyrrha? Or right, Pyrrha. My girlfriend. And what exactly are you trying to get at?"

"Don't ever lay a hand on her again. If you do, I'll find you and you'll regret ever disobeying me."

"Haha, is that so? You're quite small for putting on the threat act. You a middle schooler or an overgrown preschooler?"

At that moment, Jaune dropped his backpack and clenched his fist.

"You better apologize."

"Or what? You gonna tell your mommy on me?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Jaune charged at him with his fist ready to go. Right as he got within range, Jaune swung his fist at him, but he managed to dodge it. When Jaune realized that it was an empty attack, it was already too late. The guy planted a punch to his cheek, sending him falling away from him.

"That was pathetic! You're threatening me and you can't even come up with the opening strike? Wait a second... I know you. You're that guy who interrupted me the last time. You know, I never did get my revenge on you. I was just about to get inside of that bitch's pants when you just had to totally ruin it."

"Shut up! Never talk about Pyrrha like that."

"I can talk about her any way I want. She's still my girl after all."

"You're just lying to yourself. She's not your girl. She's my friend and I'm never letting anyone hurt my friends."

"Aw, that's so sweet. Did you steal that from one of those stupid anime shows?" He walked over to Jaune who was trying to return to his feet. He then kicked him in the stomach and then grabbed by the collar of his shirt. Jaune had no escape as the guy tossed him into a bunch of trash cans just across the alley. "Dude, you suck. I can only assume that this is your first time confronting someone like this."

"So what if it is? I'll still beat you regardless. Aaahhh!" Jaune got back onto his feet and charged the guy once more. He threw a fist at his face, but the guy dodged it and punched him in the rib. Jaune then came back with a kick to the legs, but he avoided it as well. Instead, he kicked Jaune in the back and caused him to crash into the ground.

"Because you pissed me off, I'm not letting you get away." At that moment, he started to kick Jaune with as much power as he could muster. Jaune didn't have much left in him so all he could do was brace for the kicks and hope that his body could withstand the blows. "You think you're so fucking great. You can't even land a hit on me, you little pussy. By the time I'm done with you…"

"Stop!"

Before he could land another kick, he looked to his left and saw Pyrrha standing near the end of the alleyway. She was a little out of breath, but had more than enough in her system to get those words out.

"Stop this, Cardin!"

"Huh? You're telling me to stop?" He kicked Jaune again.

"Guh!"

"I thought I made it clear that I broke up with you."

"And I thought I made it clear that that wasn't happening." He kicked Jaune once more before turning his full attention to Pyrrha. "You're still my girl and I still need to get into those pants."

"Shut the fuck up!" Out of nowhere, Jaune jumped onto his back and tried to get him in a chokehold. Unfortunately, he was too slow. He grabbed Jaune and threw him towards Pyrrha. His body hit the ground hard and caused him to roll over a few times before finally stopping.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha ran to him and knelt down beside him. "I told you not to come here. I told you."

"P-Pyrrha. T-There's no way I could listen to you after I saw what he did to you."

"Still… You're acting like a complete idiot."

"I-I'm the good kind though."

"Alright. Enough of this mushy-mushy stuff." He walked to Pyrrha and backhanded her, sending her away from Jaune's body.

"Pyrrha!"

"Since I got you here and don't have to go out of my way to find you, I might as well do what I've always wanted to do." He walked towards Pyrrha as he removed his belt from his pants.

"No, you can't do this!" Jaune turned over and literally crawled towards Pyrrha. He did everything in his power to get to her as fast as he could, but it just wasn't enough.

"You've turned soft, Pyrrha. I'm going to make you even softer."

"Get away!" She turned her head to avert her eyes from what was about to happen right in front of her.

"Guh!"

Pyrrha suddenly looked up and saw a strange looking wire attached to the Cardin's chest. She followed the wire until she found the origin point. It was a police officer with a Taser.

"Miss, are you alright?"

"Y-Yes, thank you. H-H-How did you…"

"I was making my rounds when I heard some commotion from this area. Now, if I may request, please back away from this young man."

Without wasting another second, she got up and ran to Jaune.

"Jaune. Jaune, are you okay?"

"I-I don't know if you knew this, but I'm n-not really that good at fighting."

"Haha, shut up." She couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at his comment. He was completely banged up and yet he was cracking jokes as if nothing had happened.

"Miss, do you need a ride?"

"Um, no thank you." She turned back towards Jaune. "I'm going to take you home. Where do you live?"

"Just head back the way we came and go to the neighborhood called Vale Hills. You can't miss it. My house will be the only one with all of the lights turned on. You won't be able to miss it."

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

Among the Secrets

Chapter 10

Family

Even though Jaune wasn't that bulky, Pyrrha was finding it a little difficult to drag him around. Those punches that Cardin landed on him definitely brought about a lot of pain, making it almost impossible to move. Once they made it back into their town, Pyrrha followed the directions he gave her and managed to find everything that she was looking for. When they reached the neighborhood, she looked for the house with all of the lights and found it immediately. The two of them slowly walked towards the door. Pyrrha knocked on the door and was introduced to a whole bunch of girls.

"Jaune Arc, where have you… Oh my God, what happened?"

"We sort of, uh… got into a bit of a fight with my ex."

"We need mom now. Mary, we're going to need your room since Jaune's room is too far right now."

"Bring him here."

Pyrrha gently handed him over to his sisters where they carried him into the house and into Mary's room. Meanwhile, Pyrrha watched the whole thing. She knew that there wasn't much that she could do so she turned around.

"Wait!" A sudden voice caused her to turn back towards the house. It was the voice of an older girl. "You don't look too good yourself. You can come in and I'll help you out."

"Oh, no thank you. I'm fine."

"I'm sorry to say this, but you are definitely not fine." At that moment, the girl walked over to Pyrrha and brought her inside the house.

Once everyone was inside the house, they immediately got to work. Pyrrha, thankfully, wasn't too banged up. She just had a slight bruise on her face from that heavy backhand that was laid out on her. On the other hand, Jaune was in critical condition for that kind of fight. His face and stomach took most of the blows so they needed to make sure that there wasn't anything broken or internally bruised. His mother was a nurse so they would be able to get the full analysis after some examination.

When Pyrrha's check-up was over, all she could do was sit in the middle of the living room and wait. All of his other siblings were either in that room or waiting patiently for Jaune to make his stunning return to them. As she watched them worrying over their brother, she couldn't help but feel that this was all her fault. Even though Jaune did this on his own accord, if she hid herself better, he wouldn't be in this situation at all.

After some more time, the same girl that helped Pyrrha with her bruise walked back into the living room and sat down just across from her.

"So what's your name?"

"Pyrrha Nikos."

"Hello Pyrrha. I'm Sara, the second oldest in our family."

"It's nice to meet you."

"I think I should be saying that to you above anything else."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" At that moment, she got up and sat down next to Pyrrha. As this was happening, Pyrrha was totally confused. She wasn't sure if this girl was truly being friendly or testing the waters to see if she was a good person. "Jaune's always been the friendly type. I mean, he doesn't have a lot of friends, but the friends that he does have, he cares a lot about them. The last time this happened was with a girl he met during his junior year. They were picking on her because she wasn't quite girly enough for them, which is kind of stupid. Anyway, I just realized that I just went on a tangent. You must be really important for Jaune to be like this."

"I… I don't really know about that."

"Oh there's no need to be so modest. He talks about you all the time. You're like the only thing he ever talks about whenever we ask him about his life. It's kind of sweet when I think about it. He's grown up with girls so we always teased him into being our boyfriends. Whenever we see him stick up for another girl, it makes us feel good. We taught him well," she said with a smile.

"Um, excuse me…"

A small voice came from just below Pyrrha's head. When she looked down, she saw a cute little girl standing there with a plate full of food.

"My mommy made some food and was wondering if you were hungry."

"Thank you. That's very sweet of you." Pyrrha took the plate and smiled at the little girl. When she saw that smile, she couldn't help but blush and run off to some other part of the house.

"Haha, that's Annie. She's a little shy, but I'm a little surprised that she talked to you."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. It's just that it took over a month before she started to Ren and Nora, and the thing is that they're not even menacing people. The two of them are very sweet. So for her to talk to you must mean that you're special." Sara suddenly got up and walked over to the room and check up on Jaune.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was thrown off of her horse in incredible fashion. She's only been in Jaune's house for like 10 minutes and it's as if she's in a completely different world. There was no way she could leave now… She didn't even know what was going on around her. A few more minutes went by until the madness started to pick up again.

All of his seven sisters converged onto her location and stared at her. No words were spoken, just a lot of eyes fixated on her and her alone.

"Um hi. If you tell me your names, I will try my absolute best to remember them."

No one responded. They just continued to stare at her as if she was some kind of ancient artifact that was known throughout the entire world.

"Ladies, please give her some space. Jeez!"

Pyrrha looked over the sea of girls and saw an older looking woman walk out of the room.

"I'm sorry about all of this. Our house is a busy one if you haven't noticed by now."

"Mrs. Arc. I'm sorry for barging in like this. This is all my fault," she said as she stood up from her chair.

"Oh don't be sorry. Everything is alright. Jaune was in such a great mood that I barely even needed to tend to him. Now he's asleep, but getting him that way was a struggle in itself. Anyway, I'm Jaune's mother and you are?"

"Pyrrha Nikos."

"Pyrrha? That is a beautiful name."

"Mommy! This is the girl I was talking about. The one Jaune likes."

"Oh really?"

Pyrrha started to blush. It was obvious that she was a hot topic in this household. She didn't know what to say so she just chuckled to herself. What could she say? It's not like she could actually tell them how things came to be like this.

"Um, you have a wonderful family Mrs. Arc."

"Aw, thank you. I try my best to keep these girls in check, but sometimes, they can be animals."

"That's so mean, mom."

"It's only because I love you girls," she said with a smile.

"Well, I've been intruding for too long. I think I should get home."

"It's no trouble, really. Please stay a while. It's been so long since Jaune's had a new visitor and every time he brings someone new, we immediately fall in love with them. It would be an honor to have you stay for a little while longer."

"Um… alright."

Jaune's mother escorted her back into the living room where the nine of them engaged the biggest girl conversation in history. They each talked about themselves before letting Pyrrha have the floor. When it was her turn, she did her best to tell them as much about herself as she could. As they listened to her words, they immediately fell in love with her. First things first, she was absolutely gorgeous so that was a plus for them. The things she told them about herself made them love her even more. The only bad thing was that she avoided talking about some of the bad things that Jaune has already figured out about her.

Their conversation lasted for quite some time until Jaune finally walked out of the room. When they turned their heads to see him up, his two youngest sisters got up and jumped into his arms.

"Jaune, we're so glad that you're okay."

"Hey, I'm sorry for making you worry."

"It looks as though our little prince is finally okay. How do you feel, honey?"

"I feel fine. A little sore, but I can get over it. Pyrrha? You're still here?"

"Hi Jaune. Your family made me an offer that I couldn't really refuse so here I am."

"Well, it's getting late. I'll walk you home."

"Aw!" At that moment, all of the girls in the house nearly died of cuteness as Jaune showed some chivalry to her.

"Shut it! All of you! Let's go Pyrrha." Jaune opened the door and headed out. Meanwhile, Pyrrha grabbed her things and thanked everyone for their comfort and hospitality. The last person she said bye to was his mother. After that, she met up with Jaune and walked back to her house.

On the way there, Jaune couldn't help but ask questions about his sisters and what they asked her. She told him everything which only made him feel worse. Pyrrha even told him that they said that he talked about her all of the time. By this point, he was nearly digging his own grave. However, Pyrrha told him that it was cute. To her, it seemed that they all cared about each other. Most of the times in big families, there's the possibility that siblings may not like each other, but his family seemed to be the exception. They were all very kind and very loving towards each other.

"You have a wonderful family Jaune. I'm actually kind of jealous."

"Oh, psh! Don't say that. I'm sure your family is just as great."

Pyrrha didn't know how to respond to that comment. They just kept on walking until the two of them finally made it to Pyrrha's house. The gate was closed and the house was completely dark.

"Well, I guess we're here."

"Yep, I guess we are. Thank you for walking me home."

"No problem at all. I couldn't stay home after something like that."

Pyrrha giggled.

"I guess I'll see you at school then."

"Of course. Bye."

"Bye."

They waved to each other as Pyrrha walked through the gate and into her house. Before she closed the door, she looked back at Jaune and saw that he was still waiting for her. She waved once more and then closed the door. Once he heard the door lock, he turned around and took a sigh of relief.

"Now I can head home."

When he returned home, he saw that all of his sisters were outside the house waiting for him. This only meant something bad was going to happen.

"What's going on," he asked slowly.

"Ouji-sama, can you walk us home too?" At that moment, they all charged at him and clung to him. His older sisters grabbed his hands. His middle sisters jumped on his back and grabbed his shirt. His youngest sisters hugged his leg and smiled. "Let's go home everyone."

"You have got to be kidding me. I can't move."

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

Among the Secrets

Chapter 11

The Trip

 **Note:** Hey everyone, here's a last minute boost of confidence for all of you who still have finals to take. As for me, I'm entering finals week so you won't be hearing back from me until I'm done. On the other hand, I'm live on twitch right now. Just search up "bandgeek014" and you'll be able to find me. This next week, I'll be conducting some small test streams just to make sure that everything is working fine. It really make things go by a lot easier if you checked it out. Anyway, thank you everyone for reading and good luck with these last few weeks of school.

For the next few months, Pyrrha's relationship with the group improved tremendously. Now, there was never a moment when they had to think whether something would be appropriate to say. They knew what to say without having to worry about how distant the other person was.

Now, the four of them had to worry about finals. None of them were bad at school. It was just the thought of taking the test that scared them. That's when Pyrrha had the perfect idea to hold a little study session the night before the tests started. Even though they were closer to each other, hearing Pyrrha suggest this was a little strange for her. However, they didn't think too much about it. They decided to go along with it.

Once when school was over, they met up in the front of the school and followed Pyrrha to her house. This was the first time Ren and Nora went to her house so when they arrived, they were immediately thrown off guard. The house was huge and a fence around just like all of those sophisticated houses have in movies. Jaune and Pyrrha walked through the gate while the other two were a little slow. As Pyrrha opened the door, Ren and Nora burst through the door and examined the entire place.

"Ren, can you believe this? Pyrrha Nikos actually lives here. I always knew this girl lived in a mansion."

"Well, I wouldn't really call it a mansion."

"Pyrrha, I wasn't asking for your input. This is a mansion. You don't need to be so modest about yourself." Nora wandered through the halls while the other three headed into the dining room area.

The table was huge and there was a bunch of space for all of them. They took out their books and waited until Nora was finished with her little sightseeing tour. Once she rejoined them, they immediately got down to work. The funny thing about this study session was that they were pretty much only catering to two people: Jaune and Nora. Ren and Pyrrha, on the other hand, were very capable in almost all of their classes. Pyrrha was helping out Jaune with his English stuff while Ren was busy with Nora on her math homework.

During their session, they managed to get a lot of work done while still having fun. Nora couldn't help but talk about what everyone was going to do during the winter break. Ren and Jaune both said that they never had any plans during winter. Pyrrha told them that this was the first year she was open. This immediately sparked a thought in Nora's head, but she decided to wait until their session was done. They studied all the way until 9pm and that's when the four of them started to run out of gas.

"Alright, I think that's enough. We probably shouldn't overcrowd our brains right before the tests."

"Jaune's right. I'm so dead." Nora slammed her head on the table as a sign of exhaustion.

"You're lose all of that knowledge if you slam your head like that."

"Who cares?" Nora lifted her head and did it once more which made the group laugh.

"So I guess we're calling it a day?"

"Hold on just a minute." Nora suddenly rose from her slump with a bright face. The other three saw this change of attitude and knew that something was going to happen. "I have another good idea. As I was able to conclude, none of us have any big plans for the winter, right?" She looked around and saw nods from everyone. "Well, since it's our senior year, we should do something memorable. My cousin owns this lodge up in Frozen Falls. He told me that I was more than welcome to use it whenever I wanted so… Would you guys be interested in taking a little snow trip with me?"

"Snow trip? Dang, it's been a long time since I've been to the mountains."

"Yeah, me too. Nora, why are you suddenly coming up these good ideas?"

"Whoa, Jaune… I don't like the way you're talking to me. You're making it sound like I haven't had any ideas up until this point." The whole house went silent. "Whatever, I know Pyrrha's got my back."

"To be completely honest, I've never been to the mountains."

At that moment, the other three looked at her with worried looks.

"What? Is this a weird thing to admit?"

"Uh, it's pretty weird, girl! You're 18 and you've never been to the mountains? How are you even living?"

"Hey, calm down Nora. What do you say, Pyrrha? You wanna join us for a trip?"

"Sure. It sounds fun."

"Aaahhhhh yeah! Nora comes in with another winner. Man, I am on a role. Pyrrha, you are my shining star. As long as you're with us, I will never lose faith in myself."

"Oh gosh, Nora, you don't need to say that."

"Alright Nora, I think you've been out for too long today. I'll take you home." Ren grabbed her by the back of the collar and pulled her towards the front door. "Thank you so much for having us over Pyrrha. This was very helpful."

"Thanks for coming. It's always nice to have visitors."

"Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow. Make sure to get a good night's sleep."

"Got it." Ren and Nora walked out while Jaune and Pyrrha were still sitting in the dining room.

"So you've never been to the mountains?"

"Nope."

"Have you ever seen snow?"

She shook her head.

"Wow. This is definitely going to be a trip you'll never forget."

"Excuse me, Miss Nikos, there is a letter here from the mayor."

"Thank you." She took the letter from her waiter and started to read it. It was a brief skim, but she saw that Cardin was being taken to juvie. It also said to expect a formal apology from him when his mind settles down. Once she finished reading it, she couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Good news?"

At that moment, she hugged Jaune as tight as she could with a smile on her face.

"It's great news."

Even though it was nice to see Pyrrha acting closer with them, this definitely caught him off guard. At the same time, it only took Pyrrha a few seconds to realize what she had done. When she did, she quickly jumped away from his body and looked away.

"Sorry about that."

"No worries. I'm going to head home as well. As Ren said, we should get some rest."

"Yeah."

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

Jaune walked out and made it to the gate surrounding her house before he turned around to see her close the door. That's when he turned back around and headed home. In his head, he couldn't help but think about how well things were going with Pyrrha. Of course, he wanted to tell her that he still had feelings for her. In fact, those feelings were only growing by being with her like this. Unfortunately, he didn't want to lose her so confessing wouldn't be the best thing in a time like this. This was the thing that he had to sleep on and the thing that kept him up for the longest time.

…

During the day of tests, not a lot words were spoken to one another. It also made it difficult since Pyrrha wasn't even the same class as them. Whenever they did have free time, they just rested their eyes because they knew they had other tests to complete. The day felt like it lasted an eternity, but when everything was finished, everyone ran out of the academic building and took a sigh of relief. The first half of the year was over. All they had to do now was wait to check how they did on the tests.

When the grades were posted, everyone rushed back into the building to see how they did. The grades were posted on a ranking scale so it didn't matter what class they were in; what mattered was the year in school you were. The four of them were able to meet up before getting to the board. When they arrived, they immediately saw Pyrrha's name at the number one spot. That's when people started to talk.

"Hey, she's back at the top."

"What happened to her?"

"I thought she was done."

"I guess not."

Ren and Nora didn't care about the other conversations. All they cared about was where they were ranked and thankfully, both of them passes. On the other hand, Jaune heard everything. He heard all of the random things people were saying about Pyrrha which only made him angry. Once he saw his rank and saw that he passed, he stormed out of the building while grabbing Pyrrha's attention.

"Hey Jaune, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You seem bothered."

"And you're not?"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you hear what those people were saying about?"

"Of course I did."

"Then why aren't you…"

"Jaune, you don't need to be mad about something like that. I don't let that stuff bother me because I'm with you guys now. That's all that matters, right?"

Jaune looked up at her and saw a beautiful smile pointed right at him. This immediately put him in a better move.

"Hey, you two! Let's go celebrate our success!"

Jaune and Pyrrha turned around to see Ren and Nora walking towards them. Their heads were held high with smiles on their faces as well.

…

The trip to the mountains was the weekend after the tests so they had a few days to themselves. During this time, they were all packing for a great trip. However, on the day of the trip, something happened. They met at the bus station at the agreed time that would take them to the mountains, but only two people showed up.

Jaune and Pyrrha.

End of Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

Among the Secrets

Chapter 12

Making the Best Out of It

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I hope the end of the school year is going well for all of you. As for me, I am done and am entering summer mode. My stories will continue to come out, but at a lot slower rate than when I'm actually working. Another thing... I'll be live on twitch this Friday starting at 9am PST. If you could check it out, it would really mean the world to me. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the update and be sure to start off your summer with a bang.

"Hey Pyrrha."

"Hi Jaune. Where's Ren and Nora?"

"I don't know. They said to meet here and the bus is about to depart. Do you think we should…" At that moment, both of their phones started to buzz. They reached into their pockets and saw messages from Ren and Nora.

 _Hey Jaune. Hey Pyrrha. Sorry about the late notice, but my family decided to do something this weekend. I won't be able to make it, but I told my cousin to leave the keys under the door mat. You'll be fine. I'm sure you'll have fun, but make sure to save some for me when I'm more available. –Nora_

 _Hey Jaune. Hey Pyrrha. My grandparents suddenly decided to come over and visit me so there's so no way I can leave the house. My parents insist that I spend some time so I won't be able to make it to the trip. Be sure to have fun… At least enough that can fulfill my part as well. –Ren_

When they looked up, they couldn't believe what was happening. Half of their group couldn't make it. However, they had to go. They didn't want to back out now just because Ren and Nora couldn't go. They packed their things under the bus and headed aboard the vehicle. Thankfully, there was a pair of seat right next to each other. Jaune grabbed the window seat and Pyrrha sat next to him. Only a few minutes went by until the bus departed for Frozen Falls.

In the beginning of the trip, both of them were at a loss for words. They didn't really know how to ease into a conversation that wouldn't seem awkward or forced.

"Hey Jaune?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Have you ever been to Frozen Falls?"

"I have, but it's been so long since I last went there."

"What's there?"

"Like… Things to do."

"Yeah."

"Well, first, we need to make sure the lodge that Nora's cousin owns is still functional. After that, we have the entire summit to use. There's lift cars that take you to the point of Chilly Point. Skiing and snowboarding are huge attractions there so we'll definitely have to do that. They have a spa and amazing food. There's no need to worry. I'm sure you'll love it."

"Hm…"

"Is something wrong?"

"Is it also weird that I've never been skiing or snowboarding?"

"Not really. There are a lot of people that have never tried it. I mean… It is something that not a lot of people get to try."

"W-Will you teach me how?"

"Haha, of course. I want us both to have fun." Jaune smiled at Pyrrha and Pyrrha smiled back.

Now, the trip itself was a long one. On a bus, it would take about 5 hours so there was a lot of down time. Some of that time was used for talking. The good thing about it was that not once did their conversations ever feel awkward. Aside from that, the rest of the time was used for sleeping. Jaune had no reason to sleep since he got enough sleep the night before. On the other hand, Pyrrha knocked out after the second hour.

When the bus got the mountains, the ride got a little bumpy. The funny thing was that Pyrrha was still able to sleep through it all. As the roads got windy and bumpy, her head eventually fell onto his shoulder. This caught Jaune off guard, but as he looked at her peaceful sleeping face, he was able to calm down quickly.

Another hour went by and Jaune finally caught a glimpse of the summit entrance. He gently shook Pyrrha's body until she finally woke up. She rose from Jaune's shoulder and looked straight ahead to see a beautiful overhang that marked the entrance into the park. Immediately after that, she looked out the window and saw miles and miles of white snow covering every corner of the summit.

"Whoa."

"Haha, I knew you'd like it."

The bus parked at the summit service building. Jaune and Pyrrha grabbed their things under the bus and briefly looked around. The air was nice and brisk with no imperfections in sight. Once they got the view in mind, Jaune guided Pyrrha to the residential area where the lodge was located. It took a few minutes to find the right one, but when they found, they grabbed the key and went inside. The lodge itself was pretty nice. It had a good size living room, small kitchen, one bathroom, and one bedroom. This was when things got awkward.

"Um, I don't think Nora told us that this would be one bedroom."

"Yeah, she did not, but there's no need to worry about it. You can take the bed."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I'll sleep on the ground out here. I'm sure there are blankets and stuff in here."

"But now I feel bad. I don't want to make you sleep on the ground in the cold."

"Pyrrha. I'll be fine. And plus, I'm sure this place has a heater." Jaune walked around the house until he found the control box. He switched on the heater and immediately felt the place warm up. "Alright, let's just make sure everything else works and then we'll head out."

Jaune examined the water in the sink and the bathroom, checked for extra blankets, and made sure that there was fire wood just in case they were feeling up for a fire. Once those things were okay, Jaune made his way to the front door.

"Pyrrha, let's go. We can't waste our first day here."

"Wait, come see this."

Jaune popped his head back into the room where he saw Pyrrha standing on the back porch. He went over to where she was where he was immediately star struck. The lodge literally had a perfect view. It overlooked all of the skiing and snowboarding mountains as well as had a great view of Chilly Point.

"Nora didn't tell us about this either."

"I'm not surprised. Nora can be quite the mischievous person when it comes to certain things. Anyway, let's go have some fun." Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's hand as the two of them ran through the resort until he found the first thing to do.

Their first activity was skiing and snowboarding. Since it was midafternoon, they didn't have a lot of time, but Jaune wanted to get Pyrrha started. He rented a snowboard and asked what Pyrrha wanted to do. She decided to do the same. The place they rented their equipment also offered snow clothes so they got changed their.

When they were done, they made their way to the bunny slope. Pyrrha was a little slow since the snow equipment was big and very uncomfortable to her. When they got to the bunny slope, they walked to the top where Jaune explained the basics.

"So you put your feet on the marks and securely tighten the straps to your boots. Like this."

Pyrrha watched him carefully and got it down easily.

"When you're on the board, you should always move like a penguin. However, if you're given the choice to take off the board, you should definitely do it because you're very prone to tripping like a loser. Trust me on this; I did this a lot. Once you're in position, you slide the board around so that you're entire body is turned. This is all up to you I face right just because it feels comfortable. Give it a try." Jaune rose to his feet and helped Pyrrha back onto hers.

"Um, I think I like facing left."

"Alright, as long as it feels comfortable."

"Yeah, it does."

"Okay. The next step is steering. You'll never have to worry about pushing off since gravity will do all of the work for you. If you want to turn, you either lean your body forward or backwards depending on what direction you want to go. You could try it in place, but this part is pretty simple. The hardest part, in my opinion, is stopping. When you're moving, what you wanna do is slide your board so that your heels feel like they're digging into the snow. Like this." Jaune showed her what he meant and then had her try it. In place, she was doing it pretty well, but she didn't know how hard it would be in the actual situation. "Alright, let's try it out." The two of them scooted to the edge of the bunny slope where Jaune went first.

He slowly boarded down the hill until he stopped. That's when he looked up and gestured Pyrrha to join him. It only took her a few seconds before she turned her body and followed his slide marks. At first, it looked to be going pretty well. She was moving at a steady pace. Meanwhile, Jaune was cheering her on.

"I think I got this down."

"Sure looks like it. Now, all you gotta do is stop."

"Right." As Pyrrha neared Jaune's position, she tried sliding her board 90 degrees. It worked, but she wasn't ready for her body to keep its momentum. She fell forwards while Jaune didn't see this coming. He caught her, but she knocked the two of them onto the ground. "I'm sorry."

"Haha, it's alright. Things definitely went better than when I first tried."

"You're just being nice."

"No, I'm totally serious. When I tried to go down the hill, I totally fell forward and ate it."

"Haha."

"Um… Not to sound awkward or anything, but I think we should get up."

At that moment, Pyrrha realized that she was on top of Jaune in the middle of people wandering around them. That's when she jumped off of his body and took off her board. Jaune did the same thing as the two of them made their way to top of the hill to try again.

End of Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

Among the Secrets

Chapter 13

Underneath the Stars

 **Note:** Hey everyone, I hope you all had a great Memorial Day. As well, I hope your summers are going great. Here's the update so I hope you enjoy and be sure to let me know how I did.

Pyrrha tried the bunny slope a few more times and with each attempt, she got better and better. By the time she did her final attempt, she managed to stay on her feet the entire time. That's when she thanked Jaune with a hug. Although it was a little out of the blue, Jaune returned a hug to her as well.

After she had her fun for the day, she decided to let Jaune do his thing. However, he was a lot more daring and a lot more skilled than she was so he decided to go down the downhill halfpipe. His first attempt was nothing special. It was just a warm-up, but Pyrrha was really impressed by what he could do. The attempts after that just continued to get better. He was doing tricks and all sorts of things all while making sure that Pyrrha saw it all. He didn't really have the intention of showing off to her, but it definitely came off like that.

On his last attempt, he decided to ratchet up the difficulty. He did flips and fast spins that stole the attention of everyone in the area. Even Pyrrha couldn't contain her excitement. She was telling everyone around her to look at Jaune. Thankfully, none of them saw it as an annoyance, but when they looked up at the halfpipe, they saw a lone boarder crash into the snow and roll down to the bottom of the hill. Pyrrha knew that that was Jaune.

"Oh my God… Jaune!" She got up from her chair and ran to him as fast as she could.

As she neared his body, she saw that he was completely still. He was on his stomach which only worried her even more. She knelt down next to him and turned him over onto her lap. That's when Jaune started to laugh.

"Haha, I really got you."

Smack! Pyrrha suddenly slapped him on his chest and stood up in anger.

"Why would you do that? I was so worried about you. Never do that again."

"Alright, I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry." Jaune got back on his feet to look as sincere as possible. Obviously, his plan didn't go according to plan.

By the time that happened, the day started to grow late. Jaune and Pyrrha decided to head back to the cabin. When they arrived, they tried to turn on the lights, but it wouldn't turn. That's when they went through the entire cabin and found that the power was out.

"Oh man, you have got to be kidding me."

"Why don't we just call the resort? I'm sure they'll be able to send someone to come and fix it."

"Alright." Jaune walked over to the phone and picked it up. Before he could dial a number, he realized that it wouldn't work. "The power's out. We can't call them."

"Oh right, whoops."

"It's all good. I'll just head to the main building and ask them myself."

"I'll come with you," Pyrrha insisted.

"No, it's getting really cold. Stay here and get a fire going or something. I'll be right back." Jaune grabbed his coat and headed out.

…

It took him about five minutes for him to return. He opened up the door and called out to Pyrrha. Her voice came from the back porch on the other side of the house. He looked inside and saw her standing alone looking up at the night sky. He walked over to her and told her about the situation.

"So, apparently, everyone's power is out. And the main building is closed for the day so we'll have to hold out for one night. Are you going to be okay?"

"Mhmm. I managed to make some hot chocolate. I left yours on the kitchen counter."

"Oh thanks." He walked back inside the cabin and grabbed the mug. After that, he went into the bedroom and pulled out a blanket. When he got back outside, he threw the blanket over her body and stood right next to her.

"What's this?"

"It's cold. I thought the blanket might help," he said with a smile.

"T-Thank you." At that moment, the two of them stood there quietly while watching the night sky. Since they were in the mountains, the sky was a lot more active than how it looks while being inside of the city. There were so many stars spanning the entire view.

"Dang. I totally forgot about how awesome it is to be up here."

"Yeah." Pyrrha stood there, drowning in her own thoughts. For some reason, she was feeling really dizzy in her head. It was from all of the thoughts that have been roaming through her head. "Hey Jaune?"

"What's up?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Alright. What is it?" Jaune looked at Pyrrha and saw that her face was looking a lot more serious so he decided to stand up straight and listen to the words she was about to speak.

"You know how when we first met, you confessed to me and I told you that I couldn't return your feelings?" She looked up at him and saw him nod. "But I did say that I would be willing to be your friend. Well, spending time with you three has been the most fun I've ever had. You guys really make me feel like we're family. I couldn't be any more grateful than I am now."

"That's great. I'm glad that…"

"I'm not done yet."

"Alright." Jaune suddenly closed his mouth and continued to pay attention to Pyrrha.

"But there's been something that has suddenly started bothering me. Whenever I'm with you, my heart starts to pound. It feels as if it's trying to erupt from out of my chest. My face gets hot and I can't think clearly. And I still feel like this now. I don't know why this is happening, and the strange thing is that it only happens when we were together. When Ren and Nora are with us, I never have to worry about feeling like this. W-What is going on?"

"Um… Well, living with seven sisters makes me pretty knowledgeable in certain things and I think I might know why you're feeling these things."

"Why? Can you please tell me?"

"I…" Jaune was starting to get choked up. He knew exactly why she was acting like this, but he was a little afraid to say the reason for her behavior. There wasn't even a good way to cut around it so he knew that he had to tell her straight out. "I think it's love."

Pyrrha's face turned to complete shock.

"L-Love?"

"I'm sorry. I promised that I would keep you as a friend and that's what I intend to do. I don't know why you're acting like this because personally, I've thought we've been acting just fine. Yeah, occasionally, the awkward thing happens, but I never feel that it's too awkward. Do you know what I mean?"

"I don't…"

"Pyrrha, regardless of you telling me this, I won't change the way I act around you. I confessed to you and you rejected me. I'm not going to try again until I know for a fact that…"

Out of nowhere, Pyrrha pulled him by the collar and kissed him on the lips. Jaune watched the whole thing play out as his eyes were wide open. He was kissing Pyrrha. He had no idea what to do. He was too shocked to do anything.

The kiss only lasted a couple of seconds, but when they looked at each other, their faces were both red.

"I… I'm going to bed!" Pyrrha let go of his shirt and ran to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Meanwhile, Jaune continued to watch the spectacle happening right before his eyes.

"W-Wait… What just happened?"

Inside of the bedroom, Pyrrha was completely freaking out. Her heart was beating a thousand beats a minute. She felt as if every part of her body was sweating. And worst of all, her mind was everywhere.

"What did I just do? Why did do that? What is wrong with me?" She was spitting out more questions than she could possibly answer. However, there was one thing that calmed her mind. She touched her lips and let out a small smile. "It did feel good though." She was about to change her mentality when something came along and put her back in her previous mood. "But I already rejected him. I can't just I love him after doing all of that… Can I?"

"Hey Pyrrha?"

"Ah!" She jumped at the sound of Jaune's voice coming from outside of the room. "Y-Yes?"

"I have some firewood if you want me to light the fire for you."

"Fire?"

"Yeah. The power's out, remember? I don't think it would be smart for you to sleep in the cold even with the right amount of blankets."

"Oh, okay." She was still flustered, but she couldn't reveal that to Jaune anymore than she already has. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

When the door swung open, Jaune waited a few seconds before entering. When he did, he headed straight for the fireplace. He placed the wood on the rack and did his best to get the fire going.

"W-What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where are you sleeping?"

"I'll sleep in the living room."

"But don't you need some wood?"

"Nah, it's fine. The room doesn't even have a fire place. Besides, I wouldn't want to hog all of the fire wood for myself when you're here. Guys can handle the cold. Don't worry about me." At that moment, Jaune managed to get the fire going. He got back onto his feet and turned around to face Pyrrha. "Well, you're all set. If you need anything I'll be right outside the door. Okay?"

"Okay. T-Thank you."

"No problem." Jaune smiled at her and closed the door behind him.

Back in the living room, Jaune found a sleeping bag and rolled it out on the ground. He then grabbed the one blanket that was on the couch. He snuggled in and immediately knew that tonight was going to be a difficult one. The night was cold and all he had was a crappy sleeping bag and blanket. However, he couldn't let that affect him. Even though he denied it to Pyrrha, being alone with her like this was the best thing that could ever happen to him. That's when he took a deep breath and turned in for the night as best as he could.

…

The night was as late as it could get and Pyrrha still couldn't sleep. She kept putting wood into the fireplace to make sure that it stayed warm. On her last trip to put in some more wood, she decided to check on Jaune since she felt bad about taking the entire bedroom for herself. She quietly opened the door and peeked into the living room. That's when she saw him on the floor, shivering underneath his blanket and sleeping bag.

"Oh my gosh." She walked back into the room and grabbed the blanket that Jaune threw over her shoulder. It was a warm one so she grabbed it off of the bed and walked back into the living room. She threw it over his body and smiled. "Good night Jaune."

End of Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

Among the Secrets

Chapter 14

Getting Serious

 **Note:** I'm so sorry for not updating after all of this time. It's just that it's summer and I'm spending a lot of time with my family. However, with the end of summer just around the corner, I'll be able to pick up writing again. Although I haven't been updating, I've been coming up with more ideas for my current stories as well as new ones in the future. Anyways, without further ado, I hope you enjoy the update.

When morning came around, the two of them quickly got ready even though they had no idea what they were going to do for the day. The only bad thing was that there was a bit of awkwardness in the air. The night before was something that was stuck in both of their minds, but they were both afraid of bringing it up for some reason. Once they were ready, Jaune decided to head out to see what else there was to do.

The center of the resort had a map of everything that visitors could do so that's where they started. Most of the resort was the skiing and snowboarding area and they did that yesterday so they had to keep looking. It only took a few minutes before Jaune pointed out that there was a small hike that took them to one of the highest points of mountain range. It was an easy trail too so they decided to do that.

However, when they got there, they saw a huge line. They asked around and found out that everyone was trying to use the trail, but the trail experienced heavy snowfall. Jaune and Pyrrha tried to get a good look at the front of the line, but it was no use. There was just too many people for them to see anything.

"Hey Jaune." Pyrrha grabbed him by the shirt which made him turn around. "Why don't we just head back to the cabin? There's something I need to talk about."

"You don't want to do it here?"

"No. I think it would be best to do it in private."

"Alright." Without questioning her any further, Jaune followed her back to the cabin.

When they arrived, Pyrrha quietly sat down on the couch while Jaune took a seat on the floor. He looked right at her and could tell that something changed in her facial expressions. The two of them took a deep breath and prepared each other for whatever was about to be said.

"I've been in the wrong this whole time."

"What do you mean?"

"All of this time, you guys have been nothing but honest with me. You took me into your group and made me feel like one of you. However, I never considered doing the same to you." Pyrrha looked at Jaune and could tell that he was a little confused. "Well, this may have no connection to our situation, but I've been disowned by my own family."

"Wait, what," Jaune wondered very loudly. "Why would they do that?"

"When I was young, it was quickly discovered that I was a prodigy. My parents made me do as many things as possible to get me out there. Everything they made me do, I did very well at. My abilities started to attract the attention of famous people around the area. They asked me whether I had school picked out or what sports I planned on participating in. Certain things lead to other things and I made it to middle school. Another thing that I started to notice was that I was maturing a lot faster than the people around me. This mostly meant that I finally started to understand what was going on with me. I didn't like what I was doing. I didn't want to do the things that I was doing. I started to disobey my parents and whenever they told me do something, I refused. This caused our relationship to worsen until the time when I entered high school. They packed up their things and left me alone with a note saying that I was no longer their daughter. They said that I wasted my talents by not listening to them. Because I chose to not listen to them, that letter didn't really mean that much to me so…"

"Hold on. You're moving a little too fast for me. None of this really matches up. I've been told that you were like the perfect student of our time. Why would someone like you do something like that?"

"Because I knew what that entitled. I discovered that I had to become my own person. I didn't want to live as my parents' daughter. I wanted to be Pyrrha Nikos. The girl before high school was just a fake. The girl you're with right now is the real me; the one that's been keeping secrets from the people I care about most." At that moment, Pyrrha dropped her head and covered her face with her hands. "Please don't hate me," she whispered with a muffled voice.

"I could never hate you," he said as he wrapped his arms around her body and hugged her. "If anything, I thank you for being honest with me. Now, I think I should be honest with you, even though it would totally be taking advantage of the situation."

"What do you mean?"

"I've already expressed my true feelings for you, but I want to express them again. But now that I have the opportunity, I just can't get it out." Jaune let go of Pyrrha and started to scratch his head. "I guess I'll just say it straight out. Let me go out with you."

At that moment, Pyrrha dropped her hands and looked right at Jaune who was just as wrecked as she was.

"You're really asking me that now?"

"I know it's wrong of me, but I just feel this connection with you that you have to feel with me. Look at what we've been through. I mean… I know it's not much, but I know you the most. I mean… Did that kiss last night mean nothing?"

Pyrrha's face suddenly changed a bit.

"I'm right. I have to be right. Please tell me you feel the same."

The conversation suddenly hit a silent patch. Pyrrha averted her eyes from Jaune's while Jaune was desperately searching for a sign from her.

"I don't mean to sound pushy, but…"

"No, you're right."

Jaune looked right at her, but could not believe what he had just heard.

"Huh?"

"This is why I'm a horrible person. I've been lying to myself the entire time. Ever since you first started talking to me, I knew there was something special about you. however, I didn't want to face the truth because I was afraid something like that would happen again."

"Like what?"

"Like Cardin. I don't want to go through something like that again."

"Pyrrha." Jaune suddenly grabbed her by the hands which made her look back at him. "I don't know what happened between the two of you and I don't want you to remember whatever happened. If you would allow me to, I will love you more than anything in this world. I will be there for you whenever you need me. Even if you don't need me, I'll keep you in my mind just so that you'll never feel alone. I promise I will do everything I can to make sure that you are happy."

Silence hit the room one more time. Jaune put everything he could into that monologue, but Pyrrha wasn't responding which made him feel embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things."

"Haha, Jaune…"

"Was it that cheesy?"

"Not in the slightest. I've just never heard a guy sound so sincere for a girl who meant nothing to him. It's very sweet."

"But it's not like that at all. You mean so much more than I make it seem. Most of it is my insecurity to show it in public. A part of it is just the hopeless romantic that my sisters made me out to be. I know I'm stupid."

"No, you're not stupid. You're sweet, and I gladly accept your offer."

"Wait? Do you mean…"

"I mean I will agree to go out with you," she said with a smile.

"You're not joking, are you?"

"No, I'm not joking. There's no way I could turn down a request that cute. And plus, you are the guy who made me feel like a normal person. I couldn't ask for more than that."

"So… What do we do now?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're the one who's been in a relationship before."

"And you haven't?"

End of Chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15

Among the Secrets

Chapter 15

First Date

Jaune suddenly backed up in fear. That question Pyrrha asked him was so out of the blue that Jaune didn't even see it coming.

"I mean… I've been on a date, but not with an actual girl."

"So what does that mean," Pyrrha asked with so much confusion.

"It was, uh…

"It was?"

"With my sisters," he whispered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Ugh! I've only ever gone on a fake date with my sisters, okay? Go ahead and laugh. That's what siblings do."

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh a little. However, she did her very best to hold it in so it looked like it was all mean. Once she regained herself, she patted Jaune's head and really made him feel like he was a little boy.

"How about we go on a date this weekend?"

"Are you sure about that? I won't really know what to do. Actually, no… I take that back. I could look up what to do or ask around, but…"

"Jaune, don't worry. We can go Dutch this one time. however, you'll have to make our next one even better than mine. Does that sound like a plan?"

"Sure. So what are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure yet. We'll make it a surprise date. I'll come to your house first thing next weekend."

"Alright."

At that moment, Pyrrha leaned on Jaune's shoulder and kissed him on the cheek.

"I had a great weekend. Thank you so much. I look forward to next weekend. So um… we should probably head to the bus before we miss our ride back home."

"Right. I almost forgot about that."

The two of them packed up and headed to the bus stop. Just like their trip to the resort, Pyrrha ended up falling asleep the same way. However, Jaune was able to handle this situation a lot better this time. As she rested her head on his shoulder, he eventually rested his head on hers and the two of them silently enjoyed the trip back home.

Once they arrived back, Pyrrha tried to head home by herself, but Jaune made sure that she didn't walk alone. On the way to her house, Jaune tried asking her what he should do and all she could say to him was be original. As she continued to tell him that, she was kind of busy thinking about what their first date should be. They talked and talked until they finally made it to Pyrrha's house. when they made it to her front door, that's when their conversation started to die off.

"Well, here it is."

"Yep. You're home."

"Thank you again for everything Jaune. It's such a relief knowing that there's someone I know who knows me. I don't have to hide anymore."

"Regardless of the things you told me, you can always be yourself around me."

"You're sweet, Jaune. Please don't ever change."

"I won't."

Suddenly, Pyrrha wrapped her arms around Jaune's body and squeezed him tight.

"I'll see you at school."

…

When the next weekend came around, Pyrrha quickly got ready and headed to Jaune's house. she wasn't really showing it, but she was actually kind of nervous. It's been a while since she's been a date so she didn't really know how to handle. All she knew was that she could feel more comfortable since she was going to be with Jaune. When she got to his house, she knocked on the door and waited patiently. The funny thing though was that Jaune wasn't the one who opened the door. It turned out to be one of his sisters. In fact, it was one of the older ones.

"Oh Pyrrha, what brings you here today?"

"Um, I have a date with Jaune. I would have assumed he told you guys."

"No, he didn't."

At that moment, Jaune walked out of his room and saw the door open. He examined the situation and saw that Pyrrha was standing there in front of his sister. Meanwhile, his sister was looking at him with a death glare. That's when she turned around and put a smile on her face.

"Pyrrha, if you'll excuse me, I think we need to have a talk with our little brother." She left the door open, but immediately stormed over to Jaune and grabbed him by the collar. After that, she dragged him into the dining room as his other sisters followed close behind him.

"Um, is everything okay?" She didn't want to intrude, but really wanted to know what they were doing to Jaune.

"Pyrrha, what are you doing here?" Suddenly, one more girl showed at the front door. It was the eldest sister.

"Hi, Jaune and I are going on a date today."

"Oh, that's today?"

"Wait, you knew about this?"

"Of course. Jaune tells me everything."

"Then he obviously doesn't tell his other sisters about certain things because I think there's something going in the dining room involving him."

"Really? I'll go check it out and be right back."

A few seconds went by and she came back with Jaune in her hands. Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at the scene she was looking at.

"Hey Pyrrha, sorry about this. I didn't mean for things to turn out like this."

"It's okay. It's a nice start, I guess."

"Well, thanks for not being too mean. You wanna head out now?"

"Sure."

Jaune shook his sister free and the two of them headed off to their first destination. Since it was up to Pyrrha, she decided to go to the movie theaters. Even though it was their first date, she didn't want to go too insane since she wanted Jaune's idea to better when he came up with it. The movie decided to watch was called _Heart of a Warrior._

The movie revolved around a girl who was bred to be a warrior. Her back story was that it was wrong for girls to be warriors, but her family taught her in secret. When her country came under attack by a radical nation. Their country was low on troops so she enlisted. Things led to other things and she met a young man that eventually became her love interest. The only bad thing was that he was inferior to her in combat. However, this made him even more lovable. More things happened and she eventually confessed to him. They were both happy, but were forced to continue their normal relationship since the war was still going on. By the end of the war, Jaune lost his life in battle protecting the girl.

As the two of them were watching the movie, they couldn't help but relate to their situation. Pyrrha related in the fact that they were doing things that were against the norm of life. Jaune related in the fact that the girl confessed her love before the guy could. When the movie ended, they decided to get some food before ending the date. As they ate, they were able to talk about all sorts of things. The two of them were happy. It was as simple as that. they felt as if they were in their own special world where worries and other stuff like that didn't exist.

When the date came to an end, Jaune walked Pyrrha back to her house.

"Well, here we are."

"For a first date, that wasn't bad at all."

"Well, I'm glad. I promise, though, that our next one will be a whole lot better."

"Alright. I'll keep you to that."

"Also, I'm sorry for what happened this morning. I didn't tell my sisters that I was dating you."

"Why?"

At that moment, Jaune knew that he was starting to dig his own hole.

"Sorry, it's not like that. I wanted to tell them, but I knew that they would freak out. They're girls so stuff like this would pump them up like crazy. I was just waiting for the right time to tell them."

"What about that one sister? She seemed to know that I was going out with you."

"Oh Mary? She's my eldest sister so I told her because I knew she handle it well. Also, she's getting married so I wanted to get the best advice from the one with the most experience."

"Wow. Well, tell her congratulations."

"I will." Suddenly, Jaune had an idea. "Hey Pyrrha, this may seem kind of forward, but her wedding is in a month. Would you like to join me? That could be our first "first" date. There's gonna be all sorts of fun stuff at it so…" Jaune slowly silenced himself to see if he could get a reaction from Pyrrha. It only took her a few seconds to give him an answer.

"I love weddings. I would love to go with you."

"Really? Thank you so much. Now I won't have to dance with my sisters."

"Haha, aw! You don't like dancing with your sisters."

"I mean, I do… It's just that when the slow dance comes on, they nearly kill me in order to dance."

"So you're a good slow dancer?"

Jaune's face suddenly turned bright red.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe you'll find out when it happens."

"Haha, okay."

"Alright, I'm gonna go." Jaune leaned in and kissed Pyrrha on the lips. "I'll see you at school."

"Alright. Bye."

The two of them went their separate ways. When Pyrrha stepped into her house, she closed the door and leaned against the door. She pressed her hands against her chest and took a giant sigh.

"He's so perfect."

When Jaune got home, he went into his room and collapsed onto his bed.

"God… She's like everything I've ever wanted."

End of Chapter 15


	16. Chapter 16

Among the Secrets

Chapter 16

Their "First" Date

It was the day that every girl waits for. Today was unlike any other. Jaune's eldest sister, Mary, was getting married.

The morning was super hectic. Their mother and Mary drove to the location where they were getting married. Meanwhile, Jaune and everyone else was gathering the last minute decorations that were supposed to go up before the whole thing started. once everything was ready to go, they all packed into the car and made their way to the location. Before they headed off though, there was one place they had to go to. They arrived at Pyrrha's place to pick her up. Jaune got out of the car and went to her door. When the door opened, he was blown away. She was wearing a long, red dress that was unlike anything he's ever seen.

"Wow. You look incredible."

"Are you sure? I was afraid that this may be too much."

"No way. You look perfect."

"Well, thank you Jaune."

"You're very welcome. So you wanna head out?"

"Sure."

Jaune stuck out his arm and Pyrrha happily took it as he led them back to their car.

When they arrived at the venue, Pyrrha was amazed by what she saw. It was an outdoor venue. Vines and glass bulbs were lined across the top of their heads that gave off a surreal picture. The altar had a beautiful fountain right behind it with all sorts of flowers placed around the place. Pyrrha couldn't get enough of the sight, but she had to get over it. She quickly saw that Jaune and his family were busy preparing the final touches for the wedding so she walked over and tried to intervene.

"Mrs. Arc, is there anything I can do to help? I feel guilty just standing here doing nothing."

"Oh, don't worry about it sweetheart. We have more than enough hands to finish the job."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Actually, my daughter wanted to talk to you."

"Daughter… You mean…"

"The one that's getting married. Just head into that building and take a left. You'll find where she's hiding."

"Okay." Pyrrha was a little nervous because this was quite an interesting turn of events. It was a wedding and yet, she was lucky enough to meet with the bride before the actual wedding took place. She quickly made her way into the building and followed her instructions until she peeked her head into one of the rooms that was opened. That one also happened to be the one where the bride and bridesmaids were getting ready.

"Hi. How can I help you?"

"Um, I was told that Mary wanted to talk to me. I'm Pyrrha."

"Pyrrha, I'm back here!"

Pyrrha slowly made her way through the large room until she saw Mary standing with the rest of her bridesmaids getting her veil over her head.

"Hi Mary," she said nervously.

"Oh Oyrrha, I'm so glad you made it. Let me get a good look at you."

"Me? I should be looking at you. You look amazing."

"You're so kind, but in all honesty, you look very beautiful yourself."

"Thank you. that means a lot. I spent like all last night deciding what I should wear. I don't know why I was so troubled when it's not even my wedding."

"Haha. Hey girls, would you mind giving me some space?"

They all smiled and headed out of the room, closing the door behind them.

"So how are you today?"

"I'm alright."

"I know it may not seem like, but I'm incredibly nervous right now."

"I bet. You're getting married. This is such a big moment in your life."

"Yeah. I just knew that talking to you would make me feel better."

"How? Not to be rude or anything, but I don't really know you all that well."

"That's true, but I know a lot about you. Jaune talks about you all the time. Sometimes, it seems like you guys are already a thing and I'm the one trying to catch up with you. It's really funny."

What are you talking about?"

"I know this may sound really weird, but Jaune is a really good guy. He knows how to treat a girl thanks to his sister, but what I'm trying to say is that you're lucky to have him. I can tell that he cares about you so he'll do anything to make sure that you're happy. I don't know what's he's done so far, but I can guarantee that you'll start to see a change in him."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I like you Pyrrha. Jaune's never shown a lot of interest in girls so we were starting to think that he was going to stay single for the rest of his life. When the day came when he stared talking about you, we were all super excited about it. I guess what I'm trying to say is I want you to make him happy too. You guys seem to have everything worked out. All that's left is to walk that path together. I'm sure you two will be able to do it."

"I don't really know how to respond to all of this."

"You don't need to. All you need to do is enjoy yourself today. It's going to be a great night."

…

After everything was finished, the crowds started to pour in as the ceremony was about to begin. The decorations and people were all ready to go. They all found their seats and waited for the big moment. Only a few minutes went by before the wedding march started to play and everyone rose to their feet. They all turned around to see the beautiful bride walking out in all of her grandeur. They followed her with their eyes until she finally made it to the alter. Once she was there, the groom removed the veil from her face and the two of them gave each other the brightest smile they could muster.

For the ceremony, they went through the basics. As this was happening, Pyrrha was busy thinking about her situation and what Mary said to her before all of this started. Jaune was sitting right to her with his hand on top of hers. It was a warm feeling. It was such a simple act, but she knew that this was something special. She's never felt like this before and to have Jaune next to her made her feel calm and happy. As she sat there listening to the ceremony, she couldn't help but look around calmly. Everyone around her were shedding tears of joy. She even found herself crying a bit. Witnessing a wedding in her current situation made her realize what she has and what she can forget about. She was moving forward.

…

After the ceremony came the reception. By that point, everyone was super happy and ready to have some fun. The dance floor was open and the musicians were going hard with all sorts of fun songs. Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha were having fun on the dance floor celebrating a momentous day. Although it was his sister's wedding day, this was also their first real date and from the looks of it, Jaune was a spectacular job. Pyrrha constantly had a smile on her face which made him even happier about the whole thing. He was a little worried that it might get awkward, but nothing of that sorts came up.

As more time went by, the DJ called for the special events to take place. The bride and groom had their first dance. The bride then danced with her father and the groom danced with his mother. After that, the DJ called for all of the couples to take the dance floor for a romantic moment together. It took a lot of courage, but Jaune managed to get Pyrrha to join him. When they got on the dance, she placed her hand on his shoulder and held him close.

"Hey Pyrrha?"

"Yeah?"

"You know… I'm really glad that you decided to come. You being here made things a lot easier."

"Really?"

"Of course. I mean, you are the closest person I know."

"But what about Ren and Nora?"

"To be honest, I don't know them as much as you anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I've known them for so long. Now, I can give you my full attention. I know we just started out, but I want to get to know you more. Whatever it takes, I'm down. I… I…" Jaune suddenly stopped himself as the words refused to come out.

"You what?"

"I…" He was still trying to figure out to comfortably say it, but it was just too hard. as he was about to try again, Pyrrha grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss. He was definitely thrown off guard, but not as much as the other time she did this. When they broke the kiss, he saw a beautiful smile on Pyrrha's face. "What was that for?"

"I think I know what you were trying to say. I love you too."

At that moment, Pyrrha cuddled close to him and wrapped her arms around his body. Jaune quickly embraced her and closed his eyes. That's when a smile erupted from his face.

"I do love you."

End of Chapter 16


	17. Chapter 17

Among the Secrets

Chapter 17

Girl Talk

With this most recent step in their relationship, Jaune and Pyrrha have finally started to feel comfortable around each other. They walk to and from school every day as well as spending lunch together every day. With the rest of the semester still ahead of them, there was still a lot left to happen. Specifically, baseball tryouts were coming up and Jaune was getting ready. All of his years in high school, he's never missed being on the team.

Now, the Team JNPR were peacefully eating lunch talking about all sorts of things.

"So Ren, you still haven't decided to join any clubs this year?"

"Why are you bringing that up now? The year is half over."

"I know, but there are certain clubs that don't start until later, like the baseball club."

"Oh yeah! Jaune, aren't you supposed to be trying out for baseball soon?"

"Yep. It's actually today."

"Oh nice. What do you guys do for your tryouts?"

"Eh, it's just a bunch of drills to see whether we're able to play the sport. It's kind of stupid, but it works since our team has been the regional champ for the last three years."

"Wow. That's really impressive."

"Thanks Pyrrha. We try out best to be the best."

"And yet our little Jaune ceases to act like that around us."

"Hey, that's not fair. I have no reason to act like that around you guys. You guys are everything that I could ask for in friends so I'm fine where everything is now."

"Aw Jaune, you're breaking my heart from how cute you are."

"Jeez Nora, you're in a super teasing mood today."

"You know I love you Jaune. Calm down."

Ring! At that moment, the bell rang. The four of them packed up their lunches and started to class. Before they parted, Jaune kissed Pyrrha on the cheek and told her that she could head home on her own since he had tryouts after school. She gave him a smile and went along with his request.

When the day ended, Nora quickly made her way to the shoe lockers where she managed to meet up with Pyrrha. She wrapped her arm around Pyrrha's neck and pulled her in close.

"Hey, are you doing anything after school today?"

"Um, I don't think so. Why?"

"Let's go get a snack at that café."

"Okay." The two of them grabbed their things and made their way to the café.

Once they were there, they ordered their little snacks and found a comfortable table near the back of the place. For a brief second, there conversation went silent. Nora looked at Pyrrha with suspicion and Pyrrha looked at Nora with confusion.

"So, uh… What's up Nora?"

"Wow. You are so innocent."

"What are you talking about," she asked with a defensive tone.

"You! You've been acting strange. Now normally, I wouldn't mind, but since things have been getting easier for all of us, I thought there wouldn't be anything to worry about. However, I was wrong. There's something on your mind and your refusing to speak up about it." Nora kept her eyes on Pyrrha and made her feel like she was the size of an ant.

"Why are you so good at this?"

"So I was right?!"

"Wait… Were you just guessing?"

"Oh yeah, and I can't believe that I was right."

"Ugh! You suck."

"That doesn't matter. Tell me what's going on with you. You know you can talk to me."

"I know. I just feel that it's something different."

"How so?"

"Um…" Pyrrha was a little slow and starting up the next phase of their conversation. From just across the table, Nora could tell that this was going to be somewhat similar to their previous talks in the past. "Do you ever feel like your actions are selfish?"

"Selfish," Nora asked with such question. She was almost thrown out of her chair from how odd the question was.

"Yeah. I feel that I'm acting really selfishly… Like in a bad way too."

"I'm sorry. I'm still a little confused. Why do you feel like this?"

"Well… You know that Jaune and I are dating, right?"

"Duh."

"This has a lot to do with who I used to be. To make a long story short, I didn't get a lot of love from the people around me, and now, I feel like I'm acting selfish towards Jaune. He cares about me and makes me feel wanted and yet, I don't really show it back to him. Is that wrong of me to do?"

"Um… Even though I have some questions that I feel should be asked, I'll let them go for now. Most importantly is no. It's not wrong at all."

"Why is it not wrong? For some reason, I feel like I'm stealing something from him, and I don't to think like that."

"That's so wrong. You're no stealing anything at all. You love him, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he loves you too. Trust me, when you're not around, all he ever thinks about you. I know it may seem wrong to return the love he gives you, but you've done enough for now. I mean, you opened your heart enough so that he could date you. I'm thinking you forgot about that." Nora stopped talking and looked at Pyrrha for a reaction.

"So it's fine for me to continue to act the way I do."

"I mean, you can be a little bit more outspoken, but you're a girl. Girls can be selfish when they're in a relationship. After all, our guys are our best source of happiness."

Pyrrha started to smile when she suddenly picked out something that caught her attention.

"Wait a second… 'our guys'… Who's your guy?"

At that moment, Nora felt like she was starting to get cornered.

"You know… A guy."

"Nora, you better tell me who this 'guy' is." Pyrrha stood up and started to lean towards Nora until they were face-to-face.

"I gotta go. Later."

In the blink of an eye, Nora dashed out of the café. At the same time, Pyrrha did her best to restrain Nora, but she was just a bit too quick. After that, Pyrrha decided to finish her food and then headed home. It was still pretty early so she decided to pull out her phone and stare at it for a few seconds.

"It feels a little weird to not walk home with him." Without a wasted moment, she decided to call Jaune.

"Hey Pyrrha, what's up?"

"Hi Jaune. I just wanted to call you since we didn't get to walk together."

"Yeah, you know… It felt weird not walking with you."

As she heard those words, her heart skipped a beat.

"S-So how did the tryouts go?"

"Oh man, I don't know. The good thing is that I made the team. The bad thing is that there were only enough for a full lineup. We're gonna try again tomorrow, but if we don't get any more people to join, we're gonna be in a sticky situation."

"Well, do you need some help?"

"Thanks, but it's our responsibility to fill our team. I'm just worried that our record will be broken this year."

"Don't worry about that. I'm sure you guys will do just fine this year."

"Thanks Pyrrha. I may not need your help to find people, but I would love for you to watch us play."

"I would love to."

"Well, I gotta get some sleep since we're going to start recruiting in the morning. I'll see you at school, okay?"

"Alright. Get some rest."

"I will. Good night."

"Night."

As she hung up the phone, a sigh of relief came over her. That little conversation wasn't any different from her ones with him in the past. It just felt a lot more comfortable and a lot less awkward because of what Nora told her. she was completely right. It was dumb of her to think that accepting Jaune's love was selfish. He was doing it for a reason. He understands her and where she's coming from.

"Maybe I'm overthinking all of this."

End of Chapter 17


	18. Chapter 18

Among the Secrets

Chapter 18

Personal Flaws

Due to the scouting of Jaune and the baseball team, Pyrrha was forced to walk to school alone. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad since Ren and Nora were waiting for at the entrance to the school and that was it. Jaune was super busy with baseball. All over the school were advertisements about their first game and the success they hope to achieve this year. One of them even said that they would go to nationals. Pyrrha didn't know a lot about the school sports, but she did know that that was a tall order for anyone.

And so, the three of them spent a lot of together while Jaune continued to work hard towards the start of the season. Once it did come around, he finally met up with them to talk about it. He told them that their first game was this Friday and that they should all come. Of course, they agreed which put a smile on his face. Other than that announcement, there wasn't much else.

They all saw it and they all felt it. It almost seemed as if Jaune was keeping his distance from them. This made them all curious, but they couldn't think too much about it.

At the same time, Pyrrha was a little curious because she's never seen Jaune like this. From the time she met him, he was always a friend-guy. This was the first time she felt as if he wanted to be excluded from their group.

…

The day of the game was here and everyone was ready. The advertising paid off because most of the school decided to come and cheer them on. As everyone took their seats, they saw a banner hanging from the top of the backstop fence. It was a runner-up banner for last year's championships. This caught Pyrrha's eyes because things were starting to make a little bit more sense.

Maybe this is why Jaune's been so focused on baseball, she thought.

After some time, the teams ran out to each baseline and stood ready to be called out. Their first game was against their rivals so it was pretty heated from within the crowd, but when Jaune's team was being called, everyone went crazy. Of course, the three of them cheered as loud as they could when Jaune's name was called. Once everybody's name was called, they played the national anthem and the game got underway.

In the beginning, it was slow like every other baseball game, but by the start of the 4th inning, things started to change. The other team got hit after hit without a sign of stopping. Jaune was playing catcher so it was hard for him to make much of a difference. He was doing his job though by stopping every pitch from hitting the backstop. When their team was on offense, the bats were cold. Strikeouts and groundouts were becoming the norm. Jaune did his best to keep his team motivated, but it didn't work. When he did something good for them, his teammates would end up getting out and ending the inning. As the 7th inning came around, the crowd nearly came to silence.

Thankfully, Pyrrha and Nora mustered up the courage to cheer on the entire team. Eventually, the rest of the crowd joined back in and things returned to normal. They quickly got a three-and-out and went on the offensive.

It almost seemed like magic how things switched. Their bats were on fire and hitting everything. It was so good that they managed to tie it up 8-8. However, that was the end of their run. From there until the 9th inning, nothing else happened. Both teams either struck out and grounded out. This only made things more tense for the players and the spectators.

At the top of the 9th inning, everyone was on their feet. Jaune's team also made sure to stop everything that came to them. The first two batters ended up grounding out thanks to the amazing defense. Both plays were clutches that ending up being in their favor. That left only one more out.

The guy stepped up to the plate and waited for the pitch. The pitcher waited for his signal and threw a crazy curveball. By some stroke of luck, however, the guy smashed the ball out of the park and silenced the entire stadium. Everybody watched as the ball sail through the air and land behind the homerun fence. The other team cheered like crazy while Jaune's team and entire crowd grew silent once more. Thankfully, they got the last out of the inning, but there were still more things that they needed to do. They had to tie it up and then score again to win.

At the bottom of the 9th, everybody was on-edge. The players didn't know what to do and the spectators were biting their nails. The first batter struck out and the second batter hit a fly ball right at the left fielder. That left Jaune in the scariest position. If he didn't do anything, they'd lose their first game of the season.

"Let's go Jaune!"

"Smack that sucker!"

"You got this buddy!"

Those three voices made him look up from the on-deck circle. He saw Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren on their feet cheering him on once more. They were doing that all game, but this was the first time he actually could hear their words clearly. He took a deep breath and walked towards the batter's box.

"Let's go Jaune! Let's go Jaune!"

The crowd refused to give up. They started up a chant so loud that everyone in the area of the school could hear it clearly.

"They're not giving up. I can't give up either," Jaune whispered quietly to himself. He stepped into the batter's box and eyed the pitcher down.

The stare down lasted a few seconds until the pitcher got his signal and threw the ball. It was a fastball high and away. 1-0 was the count. Jaune maintained his constant tempo of breathing as it was important for this situation. The pitcher got the next sign and changed it up with a curveball. This time, it landed right in the middle of the strike zone, leaving Jaune motionless to it's crazy movement. 1-1 was the count.

"Let's go Jaune! Let's go Jaune!" The chant continued to echo through the skies.

"Come on Jaune," he said again to himself.

The next pitch was a low fastball, but Jaune decided to swing. 1-2 was the count.

"Ah, come on." His voice was getting louder.

The next pitch was a changeup at his head. 2-2 was the count.

"Let's go!" Jaune's voice was finally audible to everyone. When his team heard him speak, they started shaking the fence and screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Let's go Jaune!" The entire stadium was cheering for him. This was the momentum that they needed. He took another deep breath and lowered his body for the next pitch. The pitcher waited a bit and then readied up. It was another fastball down the middle. Jaune quickly threw his bat at it and everyone cheered. Unfortunately, it was foul ball over the backstop fence.

"Alright. Now I know." Jaune was breaking it all down in his head. The pitcher wasn't going to give him anything at this point in the game so he had to earn it himself. He prepped himself once more and waited for the pitch.

The last pitch was a fast one. When Jaune realized this, he gripped the bat and started to swing. However, the ball quickly started to curve. By this point, his bat was already heading towards the ball's previous trajectory. This was when he was forced to make a last second adjustment. He did everything he could, but it just wasn't good enough. The ball whooshed passed him into the catcher's glove, signaling the end of the game.

The other team ran out to the pitcher and tackled him to the ground. Meanwhile, Jaune's team assembled at home plate and waited for the handshakes at the end of the game. Once that was over, they headed back to their dugouts while Jaune walked over to the pitcher's mound. Nobody paid any attention to him except and Pyrrha. Even Ren and Nora were starting to pack up their things.

As he stood over the pitcher's mound, he clenched his fist and tightly as he could and smashed them into the ground. This frightened Pyrrha a little.

"We will not lose any more!"

The entire dugout and the people who were still in the stands looked at Jaune. They could see the defeat in his behavior, but they knew he meant it. That's when they started to applaud for him. At the same time, his team walked out to him and huddled around him.

"This is Jaune's last year. We're only getting warmed. Let's say we become national champs this year!"

"Yeah!"

The crowd cheered even louder as they watched the team reconnect after such a defeat. It was hard on everyone to see this, but they knew that things were going to change from here on out.

…

Day turned to night and the baseball team finally made it out of the locker room. Jaune was the last one out and quickly noticed that Pyrrha was waiting for him. He walked over to her, still moping about the game.

"What are you still doing here? It's getting late."

She didn't reply. She just stood there and smiled at him. At that moment, Jaune started to tear up. The feeling of defeat overwhelmed him and that caused him to collapse into Pyrrha's chest. As he did this, Pyrrha wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to win. Why couldn't we win?"

Again, she didn't reply. She just let Jaune vent his feelings to her.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Pyrrha."

At that moment, her attitude towards the situation changed.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong."

"Of course I did. I'm the team captain and yet, I couldn't pull us ahead. What's even worse is that I'm the reason we lost. If I would have hit that last ball, we could have tied it up and won. I'm garbage."

"No you're not. Why are you so obsessed about this?"

"Because at this rate, I'll never be able to catch up to you."

Pyrrha suddenly tensed up at that comment. She suddenly thought back to her past. Not once could she remember her failing or losing something. She was a prodigy in almost all aspects of life and by telling Jaune about it, it changed his attitude towards his own activities. That's when she suddenly pushed him off of her and looked him in the eye.

"Don't think like that. I've forgotten about all of that stuff and you should too. I'm a new person thanks to you. I should be the one trying to catch up with you. You put so much effort into everything you do that I'm jealous."

"That doesn't matter. If I can't even win one game, how could you even look at me the way you do?"

"Jaune, what brought all of this up?"

"I just… I wanted to you to be proud of me. All of this time, I've done nothing for you and by losing, it just makes me seem worthless." He bowed his head in shame to avoid being seen with tears any longer.

At that moment, she raised his head back up and kissed him on the lips. Once their kiss was over, he broke away violently.

"How could you do that so easily?"

"Jaune! I do it because I'm already proud of you. You make me happy no matter what you do. I don't know why you're thinking like this, but I want the old Jaune back. The one who took things one at a time instead of trying to do everything by himself. Where's that guy? I want to see him right now."

"He… He's right here," he said shyly.

"Then let me see him." He leaned in for another kiss, but only this time was different. The kiss lasted longer and felt a lot more genuine. "There he is," she said softly as they broke away.

"Pyrrha… I'm… I'm sorry." He collapsed into her chest one more. However, this was the Jaune that she knew.

"It's alright Jaune. I'll walk you home."

End of Chapter 18


	19. Chapter 19

Among the Secrets

Chapter 19

One Thing to Another

With Jaune's character back on track, Pyrrha could rest easy. Unfortunately, Jaune still had the motive to have a good last season. He trained as hard as he could whenever it was possible and hung out with his friends for the rest of that time. Pyrrha knew what he was doing, but decided that it was best to let him go. Just from the first game alone, she could tell that he had a lot of potential and talent to get his team where he wanted them to be.

After schools were a little lonely for her because that meant either practice or a game for Jaune. When it was a practice, Pyrrha decided to walk home with Ren and Nora. They were still great company thanks to their lively personalities, but for Pyrrha, it wasn't the same without Jaune. Aside from the fact that they were in a relationship, he glued the group together with some mysterious force that she didn't understand.

When there were games, Pyrrha always stayed and watched. She never told Jaune or Nora. She just watched from afar to see Jaune's progress. This behavior went on for the entire season. As she carefully watched him, she could see a fire in him that seemed like when they first met. Jaune did everything he could to get to know Pyrrha and eventually, his determination paid off. It's just like that where Jaune is working extra hard to accomplish his goal of being as good as he can. Not surprising at all, it was working. Their team quickly went on a win streak that lasted the entire season.

Once it got down to playoffs, the team continued to stay on the offensive, winning every game to qualify for the championships. When it wasn't baseball, Jaune was back with the group and they were talking all about the year-ending events. Jaune had his mind of championships while Nora had her mind set on prom. All of the high school girls were getting ready for it since it was the biggest event for them. They were prettying themselves up, hoping some amazing guy would ask them to go with them.

On the other hand, Pyrrha didn't care for anything like that. She didn't want these days to end. She was becoming more and more retrospective about the past school year. She went from being alone and feared to being loved and cared for by a small group of true friends. Once college comes around, she knew that these days would no longer happen. It made her sad, but at the same time, she knew that she had to enjoy the days that were left.

Two days before the championship game, the coach gave his team a day off so this allowed Jaune and Pyrrha to walk home together. Every other time Jaune wasn't busy, he was with the entire group so this gave them some time to catch up everything.

"Are you okay, Pyrrha?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course I am. Do I seem off?"

"Not really. Maybe it's just me."

"I think it is you, Mr. I-Work-Too-Hard-in-Baseball-to-Care-About-My-Girlfriend."

"Whoa, where is this coming from? I greet you in the morning and say goodbye to every day once school is over. I even call you before I head to bed to make sure that you're okay. How am I not doing my…"

"Jaune, I'm kidding. You're doing a great job. Don't be so uptight."

"Oh thank God. You know, I was actually afraid that I wasn't doing enough. All of my sisters are constantly questioning about us and whether or not I'll bring you back to them. They really like you, you know?"

"I know. You're family's great. You know I'm more than willing to come over any time. You're the one who's too busy to allow us to hang out."

"I'm sorry. After champs, I promise I will do anything and everything you want."

"It's fine. You don't have to force yourself like that."

At that moment, the conversation suddenly went silent. The two of them walked on in silence until Jaune managed to find something new to talk about.

"So has Nora talked to about prom yet?"

"Prom?"

"Yeah. She's been constantly urging me to ask you to prom so that we can go as a group."

"And what did you tell her?"

"I was actually waiting for the right moment to ask you. Are you interested in going to prom? We don't have to if you don't want to. I'll just tell Nora that…"

"Actually… That sounds like a really good idea. Now that you've been given confirmation, how are you planning on asking me?"

Jaune suddenly took a step back. He was completely taken off guard to respond to her immediately.

"What the heck? You just told me now that you want to go. I can't just come up with something right now."

"Of course you can."

"Okay. I can, but it would be really stupid and not worthy of you."

"What does that mean?"

Jaune turned his head in embarrassment.

"Y-You're my girlfriend. I can't just do something half-assed and expect you to say yes."

"Jaune, I'm sure whatever you come up with will be great. I guess we have a deal then."

"It appears as though we do."

Their conversation eventually led them to Pyrrha's house. Jaune walked her to her front door as the two of them knew that their trip had come to an end. Right as Jaune was about to open the door for her, Pyrrha threw her arms around him and hugged him.

"What is this all about?"

"Jaune, I… I love you."

Jaune's heard this before from her, but for some reason, it still takes him by surprise.

"I love you too Pyrrha."

"I'm going to be there for your championship game… Just like every other game you've had this year."

"Wait… You've been at every one of my games."

"Of course. I didn't tell you because I knew you'd tell me not to come. I decided to come to your games because it was fun and it was a nice change watching someone else do something instead of me doing it myself."

"Pyrrha…" He pulled her off him and looked her in the eyes. "Thank you for the support. You're the best girlfriend in the world. I'm gonna win this next game for you."

"Okay," she said a smile.

The two of them kissed and then parted for the day. Pyrrha's house was empty like always, but all she needed was Jaune. She knew that she was going to get a call later that night which made her happy. On the other hand, Jaune came home to a busy household that immediately bombarded with questions about Pyrrha. His family took an immediate liking to her and now, all they ever want to know is if he's treating her well and that she's happy. Once he got passed all his sisters, he was able to relax in peace. This eventually led to the end of the night where he would give Pyrrha the usual good night call.

This one was a little different because the two of them were still on the topic that they left when Jaune dropped Pyrrha off at her house. However, it didn't last that long. They wished each other a peaceful night of sleep and then hung up. As Jaune hung up the phone and put it on his desk, there was still something that was on his mind.

"Will I be able to come up with something in time?"

End of Chapter 19


	20. Chapter 20

Among the Secrets

Chapter 20

The Championship Game

 **Note:** Hello everyone, I'm so sorry for not updating after all this time. I just have been putting a lot of stuff on my plate with not a lot of time for myself. You can rest assure that I plan to continue writing. Writing allows me to be creative where school doesn't let me do that so I hope I didn't lose anyone. I'm going to try to update more frequently, but I can guarantee that I won't give up on writing these stories for you guys. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I hope I haven't lost my touch on the writing ordeal.

A week went by and the championship game was upon him. Jaune woke up early and made sure he had everything he needed. He managed to have breakfast with his family where they told him that they would be there to cheer him on. After that, he ran to school. The team was already packing up the bus, but before he started, he noticed that Pyrrha was waiting for him there.

"Hey Pyrrha, what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see you before the game."

"Oh." Jaune couldn't help but look away in embarrassment. "Y-You're coming to the game, right?"

"Of course. I'm actually going to your house right now since your sisters convinced me to go with them."

"Are you serious? That's not good."

"Calm down. I'm sure I can handle them." She leaned and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you there."

After that, the two of them parted ways.

The trip to the game was a busy one for the both of them. Jaune was trying to pump himself up and get into the mood of playing for the championships. Pyrrha was having too much fun being entertained by Jaune's family. As always, they were incredibly friendly and loving to her which made the trip there a lot easier. They were constantly her questions about her and Jaune to see if she could be broken by their silly tactics. Thankfully, Pyrrha was a strong girl so she wasn't going to tell them anything.

When they arrived, it was obvious that today was going to be a big day. Balloons and all sorts of decorations were everywhere reminding people that it was the championship game. However, it was still early for spectators to enter the stadium so Jaune's family decided to head into town to visit a bustling city of new adventures. They shopped and ate as much as they could before the game. All the while, Pyrrha was thinking about Jaune. The fact that he was so worried about this game was still messing with her head. She knew that this game was an important one for him, but for him to be bent on winning seemed weird.

On the other hand, Jaune and his team were starting warm ups. On one side of the field was there team and on the other side, their opponents. They couldn't help but sneak glances over towards them. Their team was big and meaty as if they were professional players. This sent a chill down their spines, but they knew they had to get over it. Size wasn't the most important thing in baseball and each player was slowly reminding the others that that was true.

As their warm ups came to an end, Jaune finally got comfortable with the atmosphere. He was breathing normally and his trembling had vanished. He also couldn't help but smile as an idea came to mind. The idea of how he would ask Pyrrha to the prom.

"Team! Gather round!" At the sound of his voice, they all huddled around him. "Today's the day. We're going to give it our all and bring home the trophy!"

"Yeah!"

…

The time was now. The game was finally here. The teams lined up for the national anthem and the game commenced. Because Jaune's team was the lower ranked seed, they were the visitors which meant that they were at bat first.

Right from the start, Jaune's team took notice of the humungous human being that was pitching. It wasn't just his size either. He was throwing insane heat. Once again, the chills were sent down their spines. However, Jaune stayed strong and smacked them all on the back reassuring them that things were going to be okay.

The first inning was a rough once. Jaune's team went three and out with Jaune up next for the next inning. When they took the field, things didn't look too great. The other team's bats were hot. They got hit after hit until Jaune's team was able to rally a halt. The score ended up being 0-4 after the first inning.

The second inning showed a little more resolve. Jaune started things off with a double to left field. This hit motivated hit team to step it up. They got a few hits and managed to bring Jaune in for a point. Unfortunately, that it was it for them. The score was now 1-4. The second half of that inning was a quiet one for the other team. They were able to keep them away from home plate. For the third inning, the bats lit up again. Hits and scores on both sides were causing the crowd to go nuts. They cheering as loud as they could which motivated each team to step it up even more.

From the stands, Pyrrha and the family were so focused on Jaune that they sometimes forgot what the score was. As the middle of game came around, players were starting to get hurt. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to take them out of the game permanently; it was just a lot of being hit by pitch and getting tackled into a base. This was where Pyrrha started to get a little worried. She could tell that Jaune was playing really hard, but he was the only one who wasn't hurt by any of this.

He dodged any crazy pitch heading for his body and avoided any confrontation when he was running the bases. Because of this, it put a lot of pressure on him to keep the team going. The more they played against this team, the more they realized that it was going to be a game of endurance and determination. They both wanted to win, but each team was doing everything that they could to make it harder for the other to get the upper hand.

When it reached the top of the 9th inning, the score was 6-7 in the favor of the other team. Jaune's team was already down two outs with a runner on second base. Up to bat was Jaune and the entire stadium was blowing up. Both dugouts were blowing up as well. It all came down to this. If Jaune didn't somehow bring it the runner, the game would be over and they would lose it all. As he stepped up to the plate, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could hear everyone cheering his name which gave him confidence to do this best. Right before he took his place, he looked into the crowd and looked at Pyrrha. He pumped his fist and pointed at her with a smile. Pyrrha smiled back at him and clenched her fists against her mouth.

"Batter up!"

Jaune eyed down the pitcher and the pitcher was staring at him. A few seconds went by before the pitcher readied up and threw his pitch. It was a fastball close to the belt which caused Jaune to suck it in.

"Ball one!"

All Jaune could do was shake his head and clear his mind. He took his stance once again and waited for the pitch. The pitcher wound up and threw a curveball high and inside. It was fast too which threw Jaune off guard. He jerked his body out of the way as the ball came back across the plate. Thankfully, it was just out of the strike zone.

"Ball two!"

Now, Jaune was getting annoyed. He wanted to get his team back into this game, but he couldn't do that with these horrible pitches he was getting. The pitcher wound up once more and threw a blazing fastball right at Jaune's head. Without even thinking, he fell the ground and avoided the pitch.

"Ball three!"

"Hahaha!"

Just from behind him, he could hear the other team laughing at him and making fun of him. This was where he couldn't contain it anymore.

"Hey pitch, why don't you throw something that I can hit?!"

"Oh, you wanna hit something?!"

"Come on! Bring it!"

After that, the pitcher went silent and eyed Jaune's strike zone. A few seconds went by before he wound up and threw his pitch. It was a fastball low and away, but just close enough for Jaune to connect with. The ball streaking down the first base line, completely passing the first basemen. Jaune hit first base while the ball was tumbling towards the wall. As the fielder neared the ball, it hit the corner of the wall and took an unexpected turn. Jaune then passed second base with the intent of turning this into an in-field homerun. He turned on his second gear and started to book it home. As the fielder finally grabbed the ball, Jaune was already passing third base.

"Get it in here!"

"No you won't," Jaune screamed as he came sprinting towards home.

The ball made its way to the infield and the infielders threw it home. As this happened, Jaune knew what he had to do. He wasn't going to get an easy trip to home base so he braced himself and lowered his body. Right as he was within reach of the plate, the ball made it into the catcher's glove and the catcher blocked the plate. Jaune clenched his fist and tried tackling the catcher. For a brief second, it seemed to work, but the catcher fought back and prevented Jaune from getting through. At the same time, the catcher grabbed ahold of his body and threw him to the ground.

"Ooohh!" The crowd went silent.

Pyrrha and Jaune's family suddenly stood up in concern. The play was over, but Jaune wasn't moving. Pyrrha couldn't handle it anymore. She jumped from the stands and ran onto the field, kneeling down beside him.

"Jaune. Jaune! Come on Jaune. Jaune! Medic… We need a medic! PLEASE!"

…

Jaune struggled to open his eyes, but when he did, he saw a dark hue of the sun setting throughout the room. He slowly looked around and realized that he was in a nurse's room. At the same time, he noticed that there was someone resting their head on his bed. It was Pyrrha. He then looked at the time and saw that it had been a couple of hours since the game had ended.

"What the heck happened?"

"Mmm…" Pyrrha took a deep breath and rose her head. "Jaune… You're awake. I'm so happy," she said as she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yeah. Why do you seem so worried?"

"Why wouldn't I be worried? You nearly got a concussion."

"Huh? Are you serious?"

"You don't remember?"

"No. What happened?"

"You tried making your hit turn into an in-field homerun, but as you neared home plate, you clashed with the catcher and he threw you to the ground before you could score."

"So we didn't win…" he said softly.

Slap! Pyrrha laid one across his face which grabbed Jaune's attention.

"Pyrrha."

"Who cares about the game?! I thought you were seriously hurt! How do you think I would feel if it was something serious?"

"Pyrrha, I… I'm sorry. I just wanted to win. We… We were so close."

"Why are you so obsessed with winning all of a sudden?"

"Because… Because I was going to give you the trophy and ask you to prom."

"A-Are you serious? This is why you've been acting weird?"

"I wanted to do something special for you since you deserve it. Now it's all ruined."

"No, it's not. You're okay now. I'll accept this as you proposal. I would love to go to prom with you."

"You can't do that. I didn't even ask you properly."

"Too late. I already said yes, haha."

"Pyrrha?"

"Yes Jaune?"

"I don't deserve you."

"And I don't deserve you."

End of Chapter 20


	21. Chapter 21

Among the Secrets

Chapter 21

Prom and On

 **Note:** Starting off with some bad news. I plan on making only two more chapters. Good news… They'll be longer than normal. I knew the ending was close. I just didn't know how much I wanted to include or how many chapters I would use. For everyone, who has followed this story, I appreciate your support and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story to come. I apologize for the long wait in between updates. I'll try harder in the future to be more consistent.

Although the team ended up losing the championship game, the entire school was in good spirits. The very fact that their team made it to that point was a great accomplishment and the fact that school was coming to an end for the year was an even better point. Of course, the students were expecting to hear back from the university whether it be good news or bad news. Senior year was the final time to make it or break it and Jaune and his friends were planning on making it.

Ren and Nora both set their hearts on Atlas University. It was a bit of a travel, but they've always been wanting to go there. Jaune set his eyes on Vale University. His academics were good, but he was hoping for some kind of baseball scholarship. They were keeping good watch over him, but they tried not to show any signs of accepting or denying.

On the other hand, Pyrrha didn't put any thought into what she would do after high school. All of the problems with herself and her family prevented her from thinking about the future. With her near-perfect grades, she could easily get into wherever she wanted. She just realized that college wasn't something she wanted to do. Unfortunately, she didn't tell the three of them about this. All of the talk was about Atlas and Vale that she didn't want to ruin the fun with her unknown future plans.

…

As prom got closer, preparations were finally in order. Pyrrha and Nora went shopping together to figure out all sorts of girl things while Jaune and Ren simply waited to hear back from their dates.

It took a couple of days, but they eventually heard back from them. Nora decided to go with light pink. This sucked for Ren since he wasn't a huge fan of pink, but because Nora picked, he couldn't really go against it at this point. Pyrrha decided to pick a dark red color. Jaune couldn't help but pump his fist a little since it was a manlier color than pink. When Pyrrha showed him the exact color, he was even happier. The color was very rich and accented Pyrrha's hair. All that was left to make sure the guys' tuxes matched their dates' dresses.

The next weekend, Jaune and Pyrrha met up at the nearby tailor to get everything in check. The process was a long one, but Pyrrha stayed to make sure Pyrrha looked great.

"Hey Pyrrha, you remember the last time I was in a tux?"

"Do you mean the half-tux you used for your sister's wedding?"

"Wait… How did you know that?"

"Come on Jaune. It was so obvious that that wasn't an actual tux. You just had the slacks, dress shirt, and jacket. There's more to a tux than that."

"Oh yeah. Are you simply counting the vest?"

It just so happened that the tailor was working on his vest as he brought that up. He also brought a few bow ties with him to make sure they matched color. That's when Pyrrha stood up from her seat and helped out with the color choosing process. She picked the one that matched her dress and laid it out over his shoulder.

"Not necessarily. It's all about what you're were wearing it for and who you're with. The only people who really wear tuxes at a wedding are the groom and his groomsmen and then the fathers of the bride and groom. I thought you knew this stuff Jaune."

"I do. It's just that I forget sometimes."

"With a family of girls, I would think you'd know about all of the customs."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your sisters are all girls so I bet they all acted as if you were their date to something special when they had no one. Girls like to know more than just what they're supposed to do. To put it simply, they should have taught you how to chivalrous."

"Well yeah, but…"

"And that's all I needed to hear."

After their little conversation, the tailor managed to measure everything perfectly and asked Jaune to try out the full thing just to make sure that there weren't any malfunctions. He moved around for comfort sake and Pyrrha couldn't help but smile. He looked very handsome in his tux and the color was a good choice for him as well. That's when she asked if her and Jaune could have some time alone. This caught Jaune off guard so he couldn't help but ask what's up.

"What's up?"

"I needed to talk to you."

"Alright shoot."

Right as she opened her mouth, the words stopped dead in her mouth. She wanted to tell him about her plans for the future and how college wasn't an option. Unfortunately, something was stopping her. She was starting to think about everything up to this point. Everything Jaune and his friends have done and all the things they did together. She didn't want to ruin the mood with something as dark as not knowing what to do after high school. She simply grabbed the top of his tie, tightened it, and smiled at him.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm not worthy of you."

"What are you talking about? Before I knew you, you were the prettiest girl in school and I always thought that I would never be anyone close to you. Look at us now. I think we're about even, wouldn't you say?"

"I guess, but…"

"Are you okay? You've been kind of acting a little different lately."

"I just… I have a lot of stuff on my mind."

"Oh, speaking of stuff on my mind, I need to tell you something… Something I haven't even told my family yet."

"Um… Okay."

He grabbed her hands and looked her right in the eyes.

"You know that baseball is a big part of my life, right?" He waited for a nod which he ended up getting. "Well, I got into Vale University and they're giving me a full ride scholarship."

"No way," she said as her eyes got bigger.

"Yes way. They contacted me a few days that I've been accepted. All they want me to do is meet with them for a more formal thing and I want you to be with me."

"Me? Are you sure? Don't you want your mom or dad with you for that kind of thing?"

"Oh, don't worry about them. They've been with me my entire life and I want to share this moment with someone special. Besides, they love you a lot."

"Aw, thank you Jaune."

"Of course." He pulled her in a for hug. He was brimming with happiness.

On the other hand, Pyrrha was feeling even more uneasy. Jaune managed to tell her something important without backing down and the fact that he told her first instead of his family made her situation even harder. This guy was treating her like she was everything and yet, there was something holding Pyrrha back from doing the same. She knew she had to woman up sooner or later; she just didn't know how she'd do it. Jaune was a great guy and she didn't want to hide anything from him.

…

Finally, it was the end of the semester. All that was left was prom on Saturday and graduation the next night. For the Arc family, it was an early day for them. Jaune told them that him and his group planned to hang out all day so the family stuff had to start early. He got ready and took pictures with everyone. Even his oldest sister made it to the house in time to be with her younger brother. After their final family picture, they packed the car and headed to Pyrrha's house. Jaune and the rest of his family were super excited to see Pyrrha in her dress.

Once they made it to her house, they raced to the door and rang the doorbell. It only took a few seconds for her to open up and have them all gaze upon her beauty. She had a long, dark red dress with sparkles surrounding the bottom skirt area. All of the girls squealed in excitement and Pyrrha couldn't help but turn her head in embarrassment.

"Snap. That's one smoking babe. Too bad there's not a guy around to compliment her," Jaune's younger sister said as she nudged his shoulder.

"Shut up. I was getting there." He slowly walked up to Pyrrha, cowering in embarrassment. "Wow Pyrrha… You look amazing."

"Thank you. You look very handosme yourself."

"That's cheating. You were there when I was getting fitted."

"Haha, I know."

"Alright love birds. Let's get some pictures."

Against their will, they put Jaune and Pyrrha together and took a whole bunch of pictures. Of course, it was embarrassing for the both of them since Jaune's family was completely over the top about this whole thing. After some time, they pushed Jaune out of the way and only took pictures with Pyrrha. This made her feel better since it lightened the mood. After that, Ren and Nora arrived and it turned into a party. They were doing all sorts of crazy stuff with the pictures until they made a strange walking down the street to take a picture of the entire group. This was when Pyrrha was finally able to relax.

After that, the four of them pushed the Arc family back into their car and nearly pushed them down the street. It was difficult to get them to leave, but eventually, they gave Jaune one last hug and went back home. Once they were gone, the four of them took some selfies of themselves before heading into Pyrrha's house to hang out.

That was pretty much all they did up until dinner. They grabbed their things and headed out. Dinner was nice because they pretty much starved themselves during the day so that the food and the cost would be worth it. After that, they headed to the dance. Right as they got to school, they saw all of the beautiful decorations that the student body had put up for the people attending the final dance of the year. They walked through the school gates and into the gym where the party had already started. It was like a light show inside. All sorts of awesome devices were going off at once. That's when Nora jumped out in front of the group as if she was about to tackle them.

"This is our final night as high school students. Let's make this night to remember."

"Let's."

The DJ was one of the best in the area so they never had to worry about things being boring. They danced straight through some many songs that they made it seem like they were high on drugs. They laughed and cried when some of their favorite songs were played. They made them remember all of their memories from the past four years and even thought Pyrrha wasn't around for most of it, they included her and told her about all of the fun and stupid stuff they used to do.

All throughout the night, they never thought about what would be. They were only thinking about the now and how much fun it was to be in each other's company. This was their last night together so they wanted to leave everything on the floor. For Nora, it was literal. She was going crazy on some of her favorite songs and all the other three could do was laugh. She was always the life of the party and she was making sure that they remembered that.

After some time, the DJ turned things down for the couples to have their time on the dance floor. That's when Ren and Nora left Jaune and Pyrrha alone. At first, they were against this idea, but one of their favorites song, "Dream Come True," came on which forced them to dance together. A few more songs came on until a true slow dance song gave them the opportunity to be in each other's embrace.

"Hey Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I've ever thanked you for coming into my life. Without you, I don't know what I'd do."

"Pyrrha, I should be thanking you for allowing me to love someone like you."

That was it. They only needed to share those words with each other for them to spend the rest of the dance together.

Once the dance was over, the Ren and Nora went their separate ways and Jaune walked Pyrrha back home. For the entire walk, they held hands and stayed close with smiles on their faces. When they got to her house, Pyrrha guided Jaune into her house and up to her room. Jaune was starting to get a little flustered because she didn't say a single word to him, but refused to let go of his hand. When they made it into her room, she locked the door behind her and sat Jaune down on her bed and told him to wait. This was when Jaune could barely contain himself. He didn't want to think about what was going to happen next, but knew what was going to happen. His leg was shaking uncontrollably and he was silently telling himself to calm down, but how could he? His sisters know how girls act and this only lead to one thing.

Pyrrha went into the bathroom and slowly undressed. As she looked at herself in the mirror, there was only one thing running through her mind.

Tell him everything and give him everything.

Only wearing her bra and panties, she took a nice, deep breath.

"Everything is going to be okay Pyrrha."

She turned off the light and walked back into her room. The sound of the door opening immediately made Jaune turn his head and see Pyrrha at her most vulnerable.

"Pyrrha, if you're forcing yourself to do this, I…"

"No Jaune. I want to do this. All of this time, I've been still hiding things from you."

"What do you mean?"

She slowly walked towards him still hiding her body in embarrassment.

"All of these years in high school, I was confused. I never knew what to do or who I was. It wasn't until I met you when things started to clear up. You immediately changed my life for the better. Things got fun and I started to forget about my previous way of life. However, not everything is always forgotten."

"What do you mean?"

"You have your whole life planned out. You know what you want to do with your life and your family has your back the entire way. I'm the exact opposite of you." She suddenly sat down next to Jaune and shoved her face in her hands. That's when Jaune took off his jacket and threw it over Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, you don't need to think like that. Opposites attract… Haven't you heard that saying before?"

"But you've been so honest and so sincere to me and I haven't been the same to you."

"What are you talking about? Of course you have."

"I have nothing planned for after graduation."

Jaune was slow to answer.

"What do you mean?"

"College or work… I don't plan on doing anything. On the other hand, you've got everything planned out. How could you possibly be with someone who doesn't know what the future holds?"

"Pyrrha. No one knows what the future holds. It's our job to create a path and start something ourselves. I don't care if you don't know what you're going to do after high school. That's what makes it fun."

"Jaune, I…" She suddenly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as tight as she could. "What's going to happen to us after tomorrow?"

"I don't know. I just want to enjoy every moment with you until graduation."

Slowly after that, the two of them got completely undressed and made love for the rest of the night. They didn't care about anything else, but each other. This bond that they have created was completed at the end of the night. They stayed close and reminded each other that they loved one another. Even though graduation was so close, they were starting to wish that it would take an eternity to arrive.

End of Chapter 21


	22. Chapter 22

Among the Secrets

Chapter 22

Forever After

 **Note:** Hello everyone, long time no see. I know I'm not holding up to my promise of updating more, but life is still getting to me. I promise I'm still writing, but it's just been so hard finding time to really sit down and put quality into my works. My worst fear is that I update quickly and each update has horrible quality that makes everyone comment on it. I know now that I can't update like I used to when I started, but I promise to make sure that these updates continue to get better in quality. Aside from that, I hope you enjoy the final chapter of the story and let me know how I did.

After prom, Jaune and Pyrrha were closer than ever. They were always together and always had a smile on their faces. As the year was coming to an end, everyone was preparing for the tears that was known as graduation. At the same time, the yearbook was being distributed. There was a section specifically dedicated to one senior boy and one senior girl who was nominated by the senior class. There were classifications such as class clown, most athletic, and biggest nerd. Ren and Nora got best friends forever. Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha got cutest couple. This definitely took them by surprised because when they saw it, they started to blush.

Yearbook signing also was in full effect. The four of them reserved a full page for each other which was a thing they've been doing for their whole time in high school. Since Pyrrha was added only this year, reserving one extra page wasn't hard at all.

On the other hand, Jaune and Pyrrha were a little hesitant about the whole thing. They knew that they were special to each other, but for some reason, they could never think of the right words to write for each other so their pages continued to remain empty.

…

It wasn't long until graduation came by. The morning was a lazy one for everyone, but when it got near the time for the students to meet at the school, the four of them met up at Jaune's house to take one more group photo. Everyone was smiling and holding back the tears at the same time. They constantly had to remind each other that they haven't actually graduated yet. After that, they headed to the school where they started to line up for the ceremony. Unfortunately, they were lined up alphabetically so none of them were able to sit next to each other. When it was time to go, they put on the most serious face they could while trying to fight back the emotions.

When they made it down to the football stadium, they saw the entire stadium filled with friends and family all cheering for them. There was not a single seat left open. This put a smile on their faces and everyone couldn't help but wave uncontrollably. It wasn't hard to find Jaune's family since they took up a pretty big space in the stands. Ren and Nora's gamily was right next to his so it made it even easier. Unfortunately, Pyrrha's parents were nowhere to be seen. This kept Pyrrha from showing complete enjoyment of the situation.

Once they were all seated, they went through the motions of any graduation ceremony and ended with the reciting of the students' names. Jaune's name was early on and everyone was able to hear how loud and crazy his family was. Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha even stood up for him. Then, there was a long wait until Pyrrha's name was called, but when it was, Jaune made it a point to be the loudest person in the entire stadium. He was even able to beat his family who were a good distance away from them. This made her smile since she knew that he was her biggest fan. She smiled back at him and continued to grab her diploma. After that, Ren and Nora were called and the routine continued. After everyone's names were called, the barriers were opened and everyone ran onto the field like a hoard of zombies, desperately trying to find their graduate.

Since Jaune was placed so far from Pyrrha, it made it hard to get to her before the stadium caved in on itself. However, his family was able to find him quickly. They immediately hugged him and kissed him and cried on him; all of the normal things to do at a graduation ceremony.

"Jaune, you're father and I are so proud of you."

"Good job bro. I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you, Mary. I'm so glad you could make it to this."

"Of course. There's no way I'd miss my baby brother's graduation," she said as she pulled him in for a rough rubbing to his head.

"Wow! Thanks! Now Pyrrha's going to make fun of me for not looking nice."

"Haha."

"Speaking of Pyrrha, where is she?"

"Yeah, we want to say congratulations to her."

"I was actually wanting to find her."

"Well then get on it. Don't leave your girl alone loser."

"Shut up." And with that, he left his family to escape the massive crowd.

Jaune's mission was to now bob and weave through the crowd to find Pyrrha. This was no easy task because there were people everywhere. He definitely got hit in the face numerous times just trying to avoid crowds of people. It took some time to get around everyone, but eventually, he found a gap in the crowd and Pyrrha was standing there all alone. Her hat was still on and her diploma was struggling to stay in her hand. Jaune took a deep breath and walked up to her. He smoothly removed her hat from her head and pulled her diploma out from her hand.

"You look lost."

"Jaune…"

"Congratulations Pyrrha."

"You too," she said with a smile.

Immediately after that, his family and Ren and Nora and the rest of their families converged on them making it nearly impossible to breathe. However, this made it all the better. Pyrrha was finally able to have some laughs and smiles thrown her way. Even though her real family wasn't with her, she did other families that cared just as much about her if not more than her normal family. That's when a thought popped up in her head.

So this is how it feels to be loved.

…

A few days after graduation, Jaune and Pyrrha decided to have a little date at a small café. Things were a little quiet in the beginning since the thought of graduation was still looming in their minds. Like always, Jaune was able to break the silence.

"So I have something I have to tell you."

"Okay."

"You know how I told you I would apply for a baseball scholarship?"

"Yes?"

"Well… I got in."

"No way… Seriously? Where?"

"Beacon Academy. They're like the number one ranked school in the country for baseball. Now, I'm not expecting too much since I'll probably be a bench player my first year, but it'll be so awesome to get to be on their team."

"Jaune, I'm so happy for you."

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?"

"They're asking me to move down there early to get some summer training in with them."

"You're making it seem like a bad thing. It sounds to me like they want to get to know you and make you feel a part of their program."

"I mean, I know that that's their intention, but…"

"But what?"

"I don't want to leave you."

"Jaune, don't be ridiculous. This is important than me. This is your future calling. Don't…"

"But you're important to me too. What about you? What are you going to do? I feel selfish by going off and doing something with my life while I don't even know what my girlfriend wants to do. I'm being horrible right now."

"No, you're not. To be completely honest, I don't even know what I want to do with my life. I'm just… I'm at a fork in the road with no vision of either one. Haha… It's funny."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter. Jaune! You're going to that summer camp and you're going to show those guys that you're worthy of playing with them."

"Pyrrha, I…"

"I don't want to hear it. I will help you pack or do whatever. I am not letting you skip an opportunity like this."

Jaune was about to open his mouth and realized that it was no use. Pyrrha was a strong girl and there was no way she'd be swayed by Jaune's weak excuses for the situation. he just shut up and finished his drink.

A few days went by and Jaune was packed and ready to head off to Beacon Academy. His friends and family were all there ready to send him off. First was Ren and Nora. They couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed. They simply hugged him and wished him the best. After that were his sisters. He went from oldest to youngest, doing his hardest not to cry in front of any of them. After that were his parents. Now this was impossible. He had to cry. They were the ones who raised him; the ones who made him into the mad he is today. He thanked them for everything they did for him and that he would do everything he could to succeed at what he would do in the future. All they did was smile and nod. Last was Pyrrha. For her, he asked if they could give him a moment alone with her. They slowly stepped away and allowed the two of them to talk and right out of the gate, Pyrrha slapped him in the face.

"What was that…"

"Nowhere in any of this did we say we were breaking up."

"That's why you slapped me?"

"I don't mean to sound like some desperate school girl, but I still want to be your girlfriend."

At that moment, Jaune leaned in and kissed her.

"And I still want to be your boyfriend. Don't worry. I'll call and text you every day."

"Okay… I think that will be fine."

"Haha. Pyrrha, I love you. Nothing could ever change that."

"I love you too."

They kissed one more time before Jaune finally climbed into the car and departed. During the first minute, he checked the rear-view mirror, hoping to see someone chasing him. The only thing he saw was Pyrrha standing in the middle of the road, watching him drive off. Every time he checked his mirror, it only made it harder to keep on going, but he knew that if he came back so quickly, Pyrrha would slap him and tell him to leave. He gripped his steering wheel and continued to drive on.

…

About two months passed and things started to go weird for Pyrrha. He randomly got sick every so often, she felt tired more often than normal, and the most obvious thing was that she missed her period. This immediately threw up a red flag for her. That's when she went to a nearby pharmacy and picked up a pregnancy test. She quickly set it up and waited anxiously for the results. As she waited, her mind was in a constant flux.

How was this even possible? We used protection. What am I going to do if I really do get pregnant? I don't think I could handle something like this… not alone. Why now of all times? Unless… the condom broke. How though? Jaune and I were super careful about the whole thing. Unless… we weren't. That night is such a blur to me now. I barely even remember it. All I truly remember was giving myself to Jaune and Jaune not crossing lines he shouldn't have crossed. What am I supposed to do?

Suddenly, he alarm went off and she immediately grabbed the pregnancy test. That's when her eyes shot wide open and her jaw dropped. All she could do was cover her mouth.

She was pregnant.

…

Another month went by and Pyrrha was still unsure about what to do. She had nothing. She had no income. This baby was coming and there was no way she could sustain that kind of lifestyle. Abortion was the best option she had, but for some reason, she didn't want to do that. Something about that whole idea made her even more sick than the baby. There had to be something else she could do. Then, her phone buzzed. It was Jaune.

Hey Pyrrha, I know this may seem a little weird, but my family is kind of worried about you. They haven't seen or heard from you in so long. So, they were wondering if you weren't doing anything today that you'd join them for dinner. If you can't or don't want to I understand. It's been some time and I won't be there so… Just let me know what you decide, okay? Love you.

That's when another idea came to mind.

What if I went to Jaune's mom for advice? No, that would be ridiculous. What mother wants to hear from someone else that their own child is expecting a child? I couldn't do that. She already has a family of her own. But… what else can I do?

…

The next day she decided to take a chance and head over to Jaune's house. Thankfully, his mom was the only one who was home. She happily welcomed Pyrrha into her home and Pyrrha made sure that it was just them before she immediately got down to business. In the beginning, it looked as though she wasn't having it, but after Pyrrha told her about how them having sex was a mutual decision, she loosened up slightly. She even told them that she didn't want to get an abortion. This was another thing that changed her mind.

"Have you told your parents about this?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't do anything about it. They don't care about me anymore. I'm pretty sure they don't even know I exist anymore."

"What about Jaune?"

"No. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to when I found out and you seemed like my one and only option. As for Jaune, I don't know if I can tell him."

"Why not? He deserves to know. After all, he's the one who did this to you."

"I know, but… He has a great future ahead of him and I don't want to hold him down."

"Pyrrha, I want to help you. From what Jaune has told me and what I've seen, you're a very responsible and trustworthy girl. You can't hide something like this from him. You know that. I've had more kids than I can remember at this point, but I told myself that I want to be there for them when they need me no matter how hard it gets. I know my son. He wouldn't push you away just because of something like this."

"Are you sure?"

"Pyrrha, you're pretty much family. You changed my son for the better and I can definitely tell that he has changed you. Tell him."

…

It was a rainy day and Jaune was heading out of the dorms with his friends. They were deciding on where to eat when they suddenly spotted some strange person standing in the middle of the rain with nothing but a t-shirt and shorts.

"Dude, check out that weirdo. Did they not get the memo that it would rain today?"

"Haha, they're probably homeless or something."

His friends were cracking jokes while Jaune was analyzing the person very carefully. The more he looked at them, the more they seemed familiar.

"Hey, you guys go on ahead. I'll catch up."

"Where you going?"

"Don't worry about it. Just go grab us a table."

He slowly walked up to the person, quickly realizing that it was Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, what are you doing here?" He took off his jacket and threw it over her. "You're going to get sick."

"Not even a hello, huh? I guess you've changed."

"No, I'm just shocked that you would pull off a stunt like this. You know you have an app that tells you the weather."

"I need to tell you something. That's why I'm here."

"You know, you could have just called or texted me…"

"I'm pregnant."

"Y-You're… pregnant?"

Pyrrha remained silent. All she did was read Jaune's face for something to be seen.

"I thought we used protection."

"It probably broke. That night is pretty blurry to me. I know it's horrible of me to drop this on you now, but…"

Out of nowhere, Jaune held her by the cheeks and kissed her on the lips. Pyrrha was completely caught off guard, but immediately gave in to his kiss. This feeling was something she hasn't felt in so long that she didn't want it to end. She held him tight and wished for him to never let her go. After they ran out of breath, they looked at each other, desperately gasping for air.

"What now?"

Jaune smiled and pulled her in for a hug.

"I love you."

The End

 **Ending Note:** Thank you everyone for sticking with this story for so long. I hope I didn't let you guys down too much. I've been dealing with a lot mental things so all I care about is keeping my followers happy. Let me know how I did and I promise to keep going with all of my stories.


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